0 – 1237 – The Lord's New Church

AC (Elliott) n. 0 0. [AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTORY NOTE]

The HEAVENLY ARCANA — the matters in Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord that have been disclosed – stand in explanatory sections entitled THE INTERNAL SENSE Of the Word. As for the nature of that sense, see what has been presented on the subject from experience in 1767-1777, 1869-1879, and in addition in the main body of the work, in 1-5, 64-66, 167, 605, 920, 937, 1143, 1224, 1404, 1405, 1408, 1409, 1502 end, 1540, 1659, 1756, 1783, 1807.

The MARVELS — things seen in the world of spirits and in the angelic heaven – have been placed in sections before and after each chapter. In this first volume the sections are:

1 Man’s awakening from the dead and his entry into eternal life, 168-181.
2 The entry into eternal life of one who has been so awakened, 182-189.
3 Man’s entry into eternal life – continued, 314-319.
4 The nature of the life of a soul or spirit at that time, 320-327.
5 Some examples of what certain spirits had thought during their lifetime about the soul or spirit, 443-448.
6 Heaven and heavenly joy, 449-459.
7 Heaven and heavenly joy – continued, 537-546.
8 Heaven and heavenly joy – continued, 547-553.
9 The communities that constitute heaven, 684-691.
10 Hell, 692-700.
11 The hells of people who have gone through life hating, desiring revenge, and being cruel, 814-823.
12 The hells of people who have gone through life committing adultery and acts of unrestrained lust; also the hells of deceivers and witches, 824-871.
13 The hells of the avaricious; then the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert. Also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures, 938-946.
14 Other hells that are different from those mentioned already, 947-970.
15 Vastations, 1106-1113.

AC (Elliott) n. 1 1. THE BOOK OF GENESIS

The Word of the Old Testament contains heavenly arcana, with every single detail focusing on the Lord, His heaven, the Church, faith, and what belongs to faith; but no human being grasps this from the letter. Judging it by the letter or sense of the letter, nobody views it as anything more than a record, in the main, of external features of the Jewish Church. Yet at every point there are internal features that are nowhere evident in the external, apart from the very few which the Lord revealed and explained to the Apostles, such as that sacrifices mean the Lord; that the land of Canaan and Jerusalem mean heaven, which is therefore called Canaan and the heavenly Jerusalem; and that Paradise is similar in meaning.

AC (Elliott) n. 2 2. But that every single detail, even the smallest, down to the tiniest jot, means and embodies matters that are spiritual and celestial is a truth of which the Christian world is still profoundly ignorant, and for that reason it pays insufficient attention to the Old Testament. Nevertheless they are able to know this truth from the single consideration that because the Word is the Lord’s and derives from Him, it cannot possibly exist if it does not contain within itself such things as belong to heaven, the Church, and faith. If this were not so it could not be called the Word of the Lord nor be said to have any life within it. For where does its life originate except in those things which belong to life, that is, in having every single detail go back to the Lord, who is life itself? Therefore anything that does not interiorly focus on Him has no life; indeed any expression in the Word that fails to embody Him within itself, or does not in its own way go back to Him, is not Divine.

AC (Elliott) n. 3 3. Without such life the Word as regards the letter is dead, for it is the same with the Word as it is with man, who, as the Christian world knows, is internal as well as external. The external man if parted from the internal man is just a body and therefore dead. It is the internal man which lives and imparts life to the external. The internal man is the soul of the external man. The same applies to the Word which as to the letter alone is like the body without a soul.

AC (Elliott) n. 4 4. As long as the mind confines itself to the sense of the letter alone one cannot possibly see that its contents are such. Take for instance these first sections of Genesis: From the sense of the letter the only subject matter people recognize is the creation of the world, and the Garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and Adam as the first man to be created. Who thinks anything different? The fact that these things contain arcana however which have never been revealed up to now will be sufficiently clear from what follows – especially clear from the fact that the subject of Genesis 1 is, in the internal sense, the NEW CREATION of man, that is, in general his REGENERATION, and in particular the Most Ancient Church. And the subject is presented in such a way that not the smallest part of any expression fails to have a representation, carry a spiritual meaning, or embody something within itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 5 5. But unless he has it from the Lord no human being can possibly know that this is the situation. By way of introductory remarks therefore it can be disclosed that in the Lord’s Divine mercy I have been allowed constantly and without interruption for several years now to share the experiences of spirits and angels, to listen to them speaking and to speak to them myself. I have been allowed therefore to hear and see astounding things in the next life which have never come to any man’s knowledge, nor even entered his imagination. In that world I have learned about different kinds of spirits, about the state of souls after death, about hell (the miserable state of people who do not have faith), about heaven (the very happy state of those who do have faith), and above all else about the doctrine of the faith that is acknowledged in the whole of heaven. In the Lord’s Divine mercy more will be told about these matters in what follows.

GENESIS 1

1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face* of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face* of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

4 And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.

8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth cause tender plants to spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth; and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth tender herbs, seed-bearing plants, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

13 And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years.

15 And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so.

16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars.

17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth;

18 And to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

19 And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face* of the expanse of the heavens.

21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters produced abundantly according to their kinds; and all winged birds according to their kinds; and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let birds be multiplied upon the earth.

23 And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds; and it was so.

25 And God made wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and beasts according to their kinds, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,** and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,** and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face* of the whole earth, and every tree in which there is fruit, the tree producing seed will be for you for food.

30 And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air,** and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul, [I give] every green plant for food; and it was so.

31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.
* lit. the faces
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 6 6. CONTENTS

The six days or periods of time, which are so many consecutive states in man’s regeneration, are in general as follows:

AC (Elliott) n. 7 7. The first state is the state which precedes, both the state existing from earliest childhood onwards and that existing immediately before regeneration; and it is called a void, emptiness, and thick darkness. And the first movement, which is the Lord’s mercy, is ‘the Spirit of God hovering over the face* of the waters’.
* lit. The faces

AC (Elliott) n. 8 8. The second state is when a distinction is made between the things that are the Lord’s and those that are man’s own. Those which are the Lord’s are called in the Word ‘remnants’, and here they are chiefly the cognitions of faith which a person has learned since he was a small child. These are stored away and do not come out into the open until he reaches this state. Nowadays this state rarely occurs without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow, which lead to the inactivity and so to speak the death of bodily and worldly concerns – the things which are man’s own. In this way what belongs to the external man is segregated from what belongs to the internal. Within the internal are the remnants, stored away by the Lord until this time and for this purpose.

AC (Elliott) n. 9 9. The third state is one of repentance, a state in which he speaks piously and devoutly from the internal man and brings forth goods, like charitable acts which are nevertheless inanimate since he imagines that they originate in himself. They are called a tender plant, then a seed-bearing plant, and finally a fruit tree.

AC (Elliott) n. 10 10. The fourth state is when he is moved by love and enlightened by faith. Previous to this he did indeed utter pious words and bring forth good deeds, but he did so from a state of temptation and anguish, and not from faith and charity. Therefore the latter are now kindled in his internal man, and are called the two great lights.

AC (Elliott) n. 11 11. The fifth state is when he speaks from faith and in so doing confirms himself in truth and good. What he brings forth at this point are animate and are called the fish of the sea and the birds of the air.*
* lit. birds of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 12 12. The sixth state is when he utters truths and performs good deeds from faith and consequently from love. What he brings forth at this point are called a living creature and a beast. And because at this point he starts to act from faith and also simultaneously from love, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an image. The spiritual life of that man finds its delight in, and is sustained by, the things which are associated with cognitions of faith and with charitable acts, which are called his food; and his natural life finds its delight in, and is sustained by, those which belong to the body and the senses. The latter give rise to conflict until love rules and he becomes a celestial man.

AC (Elliott) n. 13 13. Not all people who are being regenerated reach this state. Some, indeed the majority nowadays, reach only the first. Some reach merely the second, others the third, fourth, or fifth. Seldom do any reach the sixth, and hardly anybody at all reaches the seventh.

AC (Elliott) n. 14 14. THE INTERNAL SENSE

In all that follows the name THE LORD is used exclusively to mean the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, and He is called the Lord without the addition of the rest of His names. Throughout heaven He is acknowledged and worshipped as Lord, since He has all power in heaven and on earth. This He also commanded when He said,

You call Me Lord, and you are right, for so I am. John 13:13.

Furthermore after the Resurrection the disciples called Him Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 15 15. Throughout heaven they do not know any other Father than the Lord, for They are one, as He Himself has said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So why do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:6, 8-11.

AC (Elliott) n. 16 16. Verse I In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The most ancient times of all are called ‘the beginning’, and are throughout the Prophets referred to as ‘days of antiquity’ and also ‘days of eternity’. ‘The beginning’ also embodies within it that first Period when a person is being regenerated, for at that time he is being born anew and receiving life. Regeneration itself is therefore called a new creation of man. Almost everywhere in the prophetical sections ‘to create’, ‘to form’, and ‘to make’ mean to regenerate, though each of these verbs has a different shade of meaning, as in Isaiah,

Every one who is called by My name – I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, I have also made him. Isa. 43:7

This is why the Lord is called Redeemer, One who forms from the womb, Maker, and also Creator, as in the same prophet,

I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Isa. 43:15.

In David,

A people to be created will praise Jah. Ps. 102:18.

In the same author,

You send forth Your Spirit; they are created; and You renewest the face* of the ground. Ps. 104:30.

‘Heaven’ means the internal man, and ‘earth’ the external man prior to regeneration. This will be seen further on.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 17 17. Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face* of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face* 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. Jer. 4:22, 23, 25.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 18 18. ‘The face* of the deep’ is that person’s desires and resulting falsities, of which he consists and in which he is completely absorbed; and because he has no light at all he is like the deep, or something thoroughly obscure. Throughout the Word such people are also called ‘the deep’ and ‘the depths of the sea’ which are dried up or laid waste until a person’s regeneration starts, as in Isaiah,

Awake as in the days of antiquity, the generations of long ago. Was it not You that did dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep; making the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to go across? Let the ransomed of Jehovah return. Isa. 51:9-11.

Furthermore, when looked at from heaven, this kind of person resembles a darkened mass with no life to it. The same expressions embody within them in general the vastation in man, described many times by the Prophets, which precedes regeneration. For before a person can know what truth is, or be moved by good, the things that hinder and offer resistance must be removed. Thus the old man must die before the new one can be conceived.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 19 19. ‘The Spirit of God’ is used to mean the Lord’s mercy, which is said ‘to hover’, like a hen over eggs, over what the Lord stores away in man and which in the Word are frequently called ‘remnants’. These remnants are cognitions of truth and good which never come to light or into daylight until external things have been laid waste. These cognitions are here called ‘the face* of the waters’.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 20 20. Verse 3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. This is at the outset when a person starts to realize that good and truth are something superior. Thoroughly external people do not even know what good is and what truth is, for they imagine that everything which comprises self-love and love of the world is good, and that everything that panders to those loves is truth. Thus they do not know that the things which they imagine to be good are in fact evil, and that those which they imagine to be true are in fact false. But when a person is conceived anew, first he starts to recognize that the good in him is not really good, and then, when he enters more into light, to recognize the existence of the Lord and that the Lord is good and truth themselves. The Lord Himself says in John that men ought to know He exists,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

The point that the Lord is good itself, which is life, and truth itself, which is light, together with the consequent point that no good or truth exist except from the Lord, is made once more in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. He was the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world John 1:1, 3-5, 9.

AC (Elliott) n. 21 21. Verses 4, 5 And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.

The light is called good, because it comes from the Lord, who is good itself. ‘The darkness’ is those things which were there prior to the person’s new conception and birth. They were seen as light, because evil was seen as good, and falsity as truth. But in reality they are darkness and things proper to that person which are lingering on. All things that are the Lord’s, being things of light, are compared to the day, and all that are man’s own, being those of thick darkness, are compared to the night, as is done many times in the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 22 22. Verse 5 And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

What ‘evening’ means, and what ‘morning’, is recognized from what is said above. ‘Evening’ means every prior state, because it is a state of shade, that is, of falsity and of absence of faith, while ‘morning’ is every subsequent state, because it is one of light, that is, of truth and of cognitions of faith. ‘Evening’ in general means all the things that are man’s own, whereas ‘morning’ means all those that are the Lord’s, as is said through David,

The Spirit of Jehovah has spoken within me, and His word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has said, the Rock of Israel has spoken to me. He is like the morning light, when the sun is rising on a cloudless morning, shining bright, as when after rain tender grass [springs up] from the earth. 2 Sam. 23:4.

Because ‘evening’ is a time when there is no faith, and ‘morning’ when there is, the Lord’s Coming into the world is called ‘the morning’, and the time at which He comes, since faith does not exist at that point, is called ‘the evening’, as in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Dan. 8:13, 14.

In the Word, ‘morning’ stands in a similar way for every coming of the Lord, and so is a term describing the new creation.

AC (Elliott) n. 23 23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word ‘day’ to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isa. 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isa. 23:7, 15.

Since ‘day’ stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jer. 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jer 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lam. 5:21.

AC (Elliott) n. 24 24. Verse 6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.
After the Spirit of God, which is the Lord’s mercy, has brought out into the daylight cognitions of truth and good, and has shed the light of dawn to reveal that the Lord does exist, and that He is good itself and truth itself, and that no good or truth exists except from the Lord, a distinction is at that point made between the internal man and the external man, and so between cognitions which reside with the internal man and the facts which belong to the external man. The internal man is called ‘an expanse, and the cognitions residing with the internal man are called ‘the waters above the expanse’, while the facts belonging to the external man are called ‘the waters below the expanse’.

[2] Until his regeneration starts a person is not aware of even the existence of the internal man, let alone the identity of the internal man. Submerged in bodily and worldly concerns he imagines there is no difference between the two. Furthermore he has submerged in those same concerns the things that belong to the internal man and has made one thorough obscurity out of things that are distinct and separate. For this reason it is first said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters’, and then, ‘Let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters’, and not a distinguishing of the waters. But this is followed immediately by the statement, Verses 7, 8, And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expense and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expense Heaven.

[3] The second thing therefore that a person notices when being regenerated is that he is starting to become aware of the existence of the internal man, or that what reside in the internal man are goods and truths which are the Lord’s alone. And since the external man during regeneration is such as still imagines that he is the source of the good deeds he performs, or of the truth he utters, and since such a person, by means of them, is led by the Lord to do good and to speak truth as if they were his own, therefore the identification of those under the expanse comes first, and the identification of those above the expanse follows. It is also a heavenly arcanum that the Lord uses those things that are man’s own – both his illusions of the senses and his desires – to lead and direct him towards the things that are goods and truths. Every single movement of regeneration is accordingly a progression from evening to morning – from external man to internal, that is, from earth to heaven. This is why the expanse, or internal man, is now called ‘heaven’.

AC (Elliott) n. 25 25. ‘Spreading out the earth and stretching out the heavens’ is a common expression in the Prophets when the subject is man’s regeneration, as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens Alone, and who spreads out the earth by Myself. Isa. 44:24.

Also, when it is speaking of the Lord’s Coming,

A bruised reed He does not break off and a smoking wick He does not quench; He brings forth judgement towards truth;

that is, He neither shatters man’s illusions nor stifles his desires. Instead He bends them towards truth and good. This verse in Isaiah continues,

The God Jehovah creates the heavens and stretches them out: He spreads out the earth and what comes from it: He gives breath* to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isa. 42:3-5.

Such phrases recur several times elsewhere.
* lit. soul

AC (Elliott) n. 26 26. Verse 8 And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

What ‘evening’, ‘morning’, and ‘day’ mean, has been shown already at verse 5.

AC (Elliott) n. 27 27. Verse 9 And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.

Once a person knows of the existence of the internal man and of the external man, and knows that, contrary to appearance, truths and goods flow in from the internal man, or from the Lord by way of the internal into the external, then the things residing in him as cognitions of truth and good are stored away in his memory and registered among the facts there. For anything that finds its way into the memory or the external man, whether natural, spiritual, or celestial, lodges there as known fact, and from that place it is brought out by the Lord. These cognitions are ‘the waters gathered together to one place’ and are called ‘seas’. But the external man itself is called ‘the dry land’ and immediately afterwards ‘earth’, as in the verses that follow.

AC (Elliott) n. 28 28. Verse 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

It is very common in the Word for ‘waters’ to mean cognitions and facts, and consequently for ‘seas’ to mean a gathering together of them, as in Isaiah,

The earth will be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters covering the sea. Isa. 11:9.

And in the same prophet, with reference to a lack of cognitions and facts,

The waters will dry up from the sea, the river will be parched and dry, and the streams will diminish. Isa. 19:5, 6.

In Haggai, with reference to a new Church,

I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. Hagg. 2:6, 7.

And with reference to someone who is to be regenerated, in Zechariah,

There will be one day – it is known to Jehovah – not day and not night, for at evening time there will be light; and on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea, and part of them to the western sea. Zech. 14:7, 8.

In David where the person is described who, having been vastated, is to be regenerated, and to worship the Lord, Jehovah does not despise His bound ones. Heaven and earth will praise Him, the seas and everything that creeps in them! Ps. 69:73, 34.

That ‘the earth’ means that which receives is seen in Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zech. 12:1.

AC (Elliott) n. 29 29. Verses 11, 12 And God said, Let the earth cause tender plants to spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth tender herbs, seed-bearing plants, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Once the earth or the individual has been made ready in such a way that he can receive from the Lord heavenly seeds and produce some measure of good and truth, the Lord first of all causes something tender to spring up, which is: called ‘a tender plant’, then something more useful which reproduces itself and is called ‘a seed-bearing plant’, and finally something good which bears fruit and is called ‘a tree bearing fruit’ in which is its seed, ‘each one according to its kind’. The person who is being regenerated is at first such as imagines that any good he does comes from himself, and that any truth he utters comes from himself; but the fact of the matter is that all good and all truth come from the Lord. Consequently anyone who imagines that these originate in himself does not as yet have the life that belongs to true faith, though he is able to receive it later on. Indeed he is not yet able to believe that they come from the Lord because his state is one of preparation for receiving the life inherent in faith. That state is represented in these verses by plant life, the subsequent state, when the life inherent in faith is present, by living creatures.

[2] The Lord Himself saw fit to tell us that He is ‘the sower’, that ‘the seed’ is His Word, and that ‘the earth’ is man, Matt. 13:19-24, 37-39; Mark 4:14-21; Luke 8:11-16. He describes the matter again in a similar way,

The kingdom of God is like a man casting seed into the ground, and sleeping and rising night and day, and the seed sprouts and springs up, he knows not how; for the earth bears fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Mark 4:26-28.

In the universal sense, ‘the kingdom of God’ is used to mean the whole of heaven, in the less universal sense the Lord’s true Church, and in particular every individual who has true faith, that is, who has been regenerated by means of the life that inheres in faith. For that reason the individual is also called ‘heaven’, for heaven is within him, and ‘the kingdom of God’, since that too is within him. This the Lord Himself teaches through Luke,

Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, When is the kingdom of God coming? He answered them and said, The kingdom of God is not coming with observation, nor will people say, Behold, here it is! or, Behold, there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20, 21.

This is the third stage of a person’s regeneration, a state when he is repentant. It is like passing from shadow into the light, or from evening to morning, and this is why it is said in Verse 13, And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

AC (Elliott) n. 30 30. Verses 14-17 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.

No one can have an adequate understanding of what ‘the great lights’ are unless he knows what the underlying essence of faith is and how it develops in people who are being created anew. The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone. In fact it is impossible for anyone who does not believe in the Lord to have life, as He Himself has said in John,

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will rest upon him. John 3:36.

[2] With people who are being created anew faith develops as follows: First of all they have no life, for life does not exist in anything evil and false but in what is good and true. Then they start to receive life from the Lord by means of faith – first by faith existing in the memory, which is factual faith, then by faith existing in the understanding, which is conceptual faith, and after this by faith existing in the heart, which is loving or saving faith. Factual faith and conceptual faith are represented in verses 3-13 by the inanimate, but faith made alive by means of love is represented in verses 20-25 by the animate. Consequently this is the first point at which love and faith deriving from it, which are called ‘lights’, are dealt with. Love is ‘the greater light which has dominion over the day’, and faith deriving from love is ‘the lesser light which has dominion over the night’. And because they ought to make one the verb in the phrase ‘let there be lights ‘is singular and not plural.

[3] Love and faith have their place in the internal man as warmth and light do in the external, bodily man, and for this reason love and faith are represented by warmth and light. Therefore it is said that ‘the lights’ were set in the expanse of the heavens, that is, in the internal man – the greater light in his will and the lesser in his understanding. Yet they make their appearances in the will and understanding only as sunlight does in the objects it strikes. To the Lord alone belongs the mercy which moves the will with love and the understanding with truth or faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 31 31. That ‘the great lights’ mean love and faith, and are also mentioned as the sun, the moon, and the stars, is clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezek. 32:7, 8.

This refers to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who are used in the Word to mean the sensory and the factual. The meaning here is that they will have blotted out love and faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah for making the earth a desolation; for the stars of the heavens and their constellations* will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isa. 13:9, 10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. The earth quakes before Him, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 1:1, 1, 10.

[2] In Isaiah, in reference to the Lord’s Coming and the enlightenment of gentiles, and so to a new Church, in particular to individuals who are in darkness but who are beginning to receive the light and be regenerated,

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Jehovah will arise upon you, and nations will walk towards your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light. Isa. 60:1-3, 19, 20.

In David,

Jehovah makes the heavens by intelligence, He spreads out the earth upon the waters, He makes the great lights, the sun to have dominion over the day, and the moon and stars to have dominion over the night. Ps. 136:5-9.

And in the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Ps. 148:3, 4.

[3] In all of these places ‘the lights’ mean love and faith. Because the lights represented and meant love and faith in the Lord, the Jewish Church was commanded to keep a light burning all the time from evening till morning, for every command which that Church received was representative of the Lord. Concerning this light it is said,

Command the sons of Israel that they take oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the Tent of Meeting outside the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah. [Exod. 27:20, 21]

That this means the love and faith which the Lord kindles and causes to shine in the internal man, and by means of the internal man in the external man, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown at that point in Exodus.
* lit. orions

AC (Elliott) n. 32 32. Love and faith are first called ‘the great lights’, then love is called ‘the greater light’ and faith ‘the lesser light’. In reference to love it is said that it will have dominion over the day, and in reference to faith that it will have dominion over the night. Because these are arcana and have become hidden, especially at this end of an epoch, in the Lord’s Divine mercy let the whole subject be opened up. The reason they have become hidden, especially at this present end of an epoch, is that now is the close of the age, when love is almost non-existent, and consequently faith too, just as the Lord Himself foretold in the Gospels with these words,

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt. 24:29.

Here ‘the sun’ is used to mean love, which is ‘darkened’, ‘the moon’ faith which does not give its light, ‘the stars’ cognitions of faith which fall from heaven, and which are the various ‘powers of the heavens’. The Most Ancient Church acknowledged no other faith than love itself; celestial angels as well do not know what faith is except faith which stems from love. Love pervades the whole of heaven, for in the heavens no other life is found except the life that belongs to love. This is the source of all happiness in heaven, a happiness so great that no aspect of it can be described or in any way captured in human concepts. People in whom this love is present love the Lord wholeheartedly. Yet they realize, say, and perceive that all love, thus all life, which belongs exclusively to love, and so all happiness, come from the Lord and nowhere else, and that they derive not one trace of love, life, and happiness from themselves. The Lord’s being the source of all love was again represented by the greater light, that is, the sun, at the Transfiguration, for His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as the light, Matt. 17:2. What is inmost is meant by His face, and what emanates from the inmost by His garments. Thus His Divinity is meant by the sun or love, and His Humanity by the light or wisdom coming from love.

AC (Elliott) n. 33 33. Everyone is capable of knowing very well that no life is possible without love of some kind, nor any type of joy whatsoever except the joy that flows out from the love. Furthermore the nature of the love determines the nature of the life and of the joy. If you took away your loves, and what amounts to the same, your desires (since these stem from love), thought would instantly perish and you would be as one dead. This I have been shown convincingly. Self-love and the love of the world present a semblance of life and of joy, but because they are absolutely contrary to true love, which is loving the Lord above all things and the neighbour as oneself, it is clear that neither of them is love but hatred. For the more anyone loves himself and the world, the more he hates his neighbour and so the Lord. Consequently true love is love to the Lord, true life is the life inherent in love from Him, and true joy is the joy of that life. The existence of more than one true love is not possible. Nor consequently is the existence of more than one true life possible which is the source of all true joy and happiness, such as angels in the heavens enjoy.

AC (Elliott) n. 34 34. Love and faith cannot possibly be separated for they constitute one and the same thing. This is why, when first the [great] lights are dealt with and they are taken to be one, it is said [using a singular verb with a plural noun], ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens’. Let some marvels relating to this be mentioned here. Since celestial angels possess from the Lord that kind of love, they possess by virtue of that love every cognition of faith, and by virtue of that love the kind of life and light of understanding that almost defies description altogether. On the other hand spirits who without love have a knowledge of the doctrinal matters concerning faith live such cold lives and are in such dull light that they cannot approach even the outer gateway to heaven before running off in the opposite direction. Some claim to have believed in the Lord, but they have not lived according to His teaching. The Lord refers to these people in Matthew as follows,

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does My will. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? and so on. Matt. 7:21, 22-end.

[2] From this is clear that those who have love have faith as well, and so heavenly life, whereas those who claim to have faith and yet have none of the life inherent in love do not. The life of faith devoid of love is like sunlight devoid of warmth, as is the case in wintertime when nothing grows and every single thing is inactive and dies off. But faith deriving from love is like the sunlight in springtime when everything grows and blossoms, for it is the warmth of the sun that brings it out. It is similar with spiritual and celestial things, which are normally represented in the Word by the things found in the world and on earth. An absence of faith, and faith devoid of love, are also compared by the Lord to winter where He foretold the close of the age in Mark,

Pray that your flight may not happen in winter, for those will be days of affliction. Mark 13, 18, 19.

‘Flight’ means the final period, also the time when a person dies; ‘winter’ is life which is destitute of love, ‘days of affliction’ his wretched condition in the next life.

AC (Elliott) n. 35 35. Man has two inherent powers of will and understanding. When the understanding is governed by the will they then constitute one mind and so one life; for what a person in that case wills and does he also thinks and intends. But when the understanding is at variance with the will, as it is with people who claim to have faith and yet live otherwise, then a mind previously one is split in two. One half seeks to transport itself into heaven, while the other inclines towards hell. And because the will is what accomplishes everything, the whole man would rush straight into hell unless the Lord took pity on him.

AC (Elliott) n. 36 36. People who have separated faith from love do not even know what faith is. When they do entertain an idea about faith, some of them see it only as mere thought, others as thought directed towards the Lord, and a few as the doctrine of faith. But faith involves not only knowledge of all the things that the doctrine of faith embraces and the acknowledgment of them; it is first and foremost obedience to everything that doctrine teaches. The primary point that it teaches for men’s obedience is love of the Lord and love of the neighbour. Whoever is devoid of this is devoid of faith, a point which the Lord teaches so plainly in Mark as to leave absolutely no room for doubt,

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is also like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 11:28-33.

In Matthew He calls the former ‘the first and great commandment’, and says ‘on these commandments the Law and Prophets depend’, 22:75-40. The Law and the Prophets are the doctrine of faith in its entirety and the whole of the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 37 37. As for the statement that ‘the lights will be for signs, and for set times, and for days, and for years’, this contains more arcana than can be presented at this point, though no arcanum at all is visible in the sense of the letter. For now only this can be said: Change in spiritual and celestial things takes place both on general and on particular scales, and is comparable to changes that take place through the day and through the year. Changes through the day are from morning to midday, from then on to evening, and through the night to the morning. Changes in the year similar, from spring to summer, from then on to autumn, and through winter to spring. These bring changes in temperature and amount of daylight, and so in the fertility of the earth. Compared to such changes are the changes that take place in spiritual and celestial things. Life without changes and variations would lead to sameness, and so no life at all. Good and truth would not be recognized and identified, let alone perceived. In the Prophets such changes are called ‘ordinances’, as in Jeremiah,

[Thus] said Jehovah who gives the sun for light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for light by night, These ordinances will not depart from before Me. Jer. 31:35, 36.

And in the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, If I have not established My covenant of day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth . . . Jer. 33:25.

But these things will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with at Gen. 8:12.

AC (Elliott) n. 38 38. Verse 18 And to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

‘The day’ is used to mean good, and ‘the night’ evil. Consequently goods are called ‘the works of the day’, whereas evils are called ‘the works of the night’. ‘The light’ is used to mean truth, and ‘the darkness’ falsity, just as the Lord says,

Men preferred darkness rather than light; he who does the truth comes to the light. John 3:19-21.

Verse 19 And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

AC (Elliott) n. 39 39. Verse 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face* of the expanse of the heavens.

After the great lights have been kindled and lodged in the internal man, from which the external man receives its light, a person starts to live for the first time. Till then he can hardly be said to have lived, for he had imagined that the good he had done he had done from himself, and the truth he had uttered he had spoken from himself. And since man functioning from himself is dead – there being nothing in him that is not evil and false – therefore whatever he brings forth from himself is not living. So true is this that of himself he is incapable of doing any good deed that is in itself good. The fact that man cannot begin to think about good or to will it, and so cannot do good, unless the Lord is the source, is clear to everyone from the doctrine of faith, for the Lord says in Matthew,

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. Matt. 13:37.

Nor can good come from anywhere else than the one fount itself of all good, as yet again He says,

Nobody is good but one, God. Luke 18:19.

[2] Nevertheless when the Lord is revitalizing a person, or regenerating him, He does allow him, to begin with, to imagine that good and truth originate in himself, for at that point a person cannot grasp anything else, or be led to believe and finally perceive, that all good and truth come from the Lord alone. As long as he held the former opinion his truths and goods were comparable to ‘a tender plant’, then ‘a plant bearing seed’, and after that ‘a fruit tree’, which are inanimate. But once he has been brought to life by love and faith and believes that the Lord is at work in every good deed he does and in every truth he utters, he is compared first to creeping things from the water and to birds which fly above the earth, and then to beasts, all of which are animate and are called ‘living creatures’.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 40 40. ‘Creeping things which the waters bring forth’ means facts which belong to the external man, while ‘birds’ generally means rational concepts and also intellectual concepts, of which the latter belong to the internal man. That creeping things from the waters, or fish, mean facts is clear in Isaiah,

I came, and there was no man. By My rebuke I will dry up the sea, I will make the rivers a desert. Their fish will stink because there is no water and will die of thirst. I will clothe the heavens with darkness. Isa. 50:2, 3.

[2] This is plainer still in Ezekiel where the Lord describes the new temple, or new Church in general, and the member of the Church, or person who has been regenerated, for every regenerate person is a temple of the Lord,

The Lord Jehovih* said to me, Those waters which will go out to the boundary eastwards will come towards the sea, having been directed into the sea, and the waters will be fresh. And it will be that every living creature which swarms will live, wherever the water of the rivers reaches, and there will be very many fish, for these waters are going there and will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. And it will be that fishermen from En-gedi to En-eglaim will stand beside it, with nets spread out. Its fish according to their kinds will be very many, like the fish of the great sea. Ezek. 47:8-10.

‘Fishermen from En-gedi to En-eglaim with their nets stretched out’ means people who are to teach the natural man about the truths of faith.

[3] In the Prophets ‘birds’ invariably means rational concepts and intellectual concepts, as in Isaiah,

Calling a bird of prey from the east, a man of My counsel from a distant land. Isa. 46:11.

In Jeremiah,

I looked, and behold there was no man, and all the birds of the air** had fled. Jer. 4:25.

In Ezekiel,

I will plant the sprig of a lofty cedar, and it will bring forth a branch, and bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and under it will dwell every bird of every sort,*** in the shade of its branches they will dwell. Ezek. 17:23.

And in Hosea, when the subject is a new Church, or regenerate person,

And I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,** and with things moving on the ground. Hosea 2:18.

Anyone may see that because the Lord ‘is making a new covenant’ with them, ‘wild animal’ is not used to mean a wild animal, nor ‘bird’ to mean a bird.
* The Latin has Jehovah; for the form Jehovih see 1793
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
*** lit. of every wing

AC (Elliott) n. 41 41. Anything that is man’s own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by ‘a living creature’. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

AC (Elliott) n. 42 42. Verse 21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters produced abundantly according to their kinds; and all winged birds according to their kinds; and God saw that it was good.

As has been stated, ‘fish’ means facts, here facts quickened and brought to life through faith from the Lord. ‘Sea monsters’ means those facts’ general sources, below which and from which details derive. Nothing whatever exists in the universe that does not depend on some general source for its commencement and continuance. In the Prophets sea monsters or whales are mentioned several times, and in those places they mean those general sources of facts. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who represents human wisdom or intelligence – that is, knowledge in general – is called ‘a great sea monster’, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of his* rivers, who has said, It is my river and I have made myself. Ezek. 29:3.

[2] And elsewhere in Ezekiel,

Raise a lamentation over Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, You are like a monster in the seas, and you have come forth in your rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet. Ezek. 32:2

These words mean people who wish to penetrate the mysteries that are part of faith by means of facts, and so from themselves. In Isaiah,

On that day Jehovah will make a visitation with His hard and great and strong sword upon Leviathan the full-length serpent,** and upon Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the monsters that are in the sea. Isa. 27:1.

‘Slaying the monsters in the sea’ means preventing people’s knowing facts even in their general aspects. In Jeremiah,

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel has devoured me, he has troubled me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a sea monster, he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has cast me out. Jer 51:34.

This stands for the fact that mankind did swallow cognitions of faith, which are ‘the delicacies’ here, just as the sea monster swallowed up Jonah. In that story the sea monster stands for people who treat general cognitions of faith as mere facts, and behave accordingly.
* The Latin means your; but the Hebrew means his which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
** i.e. a serpent that is on the move and not coiled up

AC (Elliott) n. 43 43. Verse 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let birds be multiplied upon the earth.
Everything that has life in it from the Lord is fruitful and multiplies without limit. This does not happen during a person’s lifetime, but in the next life it does so to an astonishing extent. In the Word ‘to be fruitful’ has reference to matters of love, while ‘to multiply’ has reference to matters of faith. The fruit of love contains the seed by which it multiplies itself to so great an extent. The Lord’ s blessing also means, in the Word, fruitfulness and multiplication, for they are the outcome of that blessing.

Verse 23 And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

AC (Elliott) n. 44 44. Verses 24, 25 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds; and it was so. And God made wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and beasts according to their kinds, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Man, like the earth, can produce nothing good unless the cognitions of faith have already been sown in him enabling him to know what to believe and do. It is the function of the understanding to hear the Word, and of the will to do it. A person who hears the Word and does not do it is one who claims to believe, but he does not live according to it. Such a person separates hearing and doing, and splits his mind in two directions; and by the Lord he is called ‘a foolish man’,

Everyone who hears My words and does them I liken to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; but everyone who hears My words and does them not I liken to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. Matt. 7:24, 26.

Matters of the understanding, as has been shown, are meant by ‘creeping things which the waters produce’, and by ‘birds over the earth and over the face* of the expanse’. Matters of the will are here meant by ‘living creatures which the earth brings forth’, and by ‘beasts and creeping things’, and also by ‘the wild animals of the earth’.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 45 45. This was how people who lived in most ancient times envisaged matters of the understanding and those of the will. Among the Prophets therefore, and consistently throughout the Old Testament Word, like matters are represented by various kinds of living creatures. There are two kinds of beasts – evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are gentle. Evil [and harmful] things in man were meant by such beasts as bears, wolves, and dogs, while good and gentle things were meant by beasts such as calves, sheep, and lambs. As the subject here is those persons who are to be regenerated, ‘the beasts’ are good and gentle ones, which mean affections. Things of a baser nature that derive from the body are called ‘wild animals of the earth’. These are desires and pleasures.

AC (Elliott) n. 46 46. That ‘beasts’ means affections residing with man – evil affections in evil men and good affections in good men – becomes clear from many examples in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, so that you will be tilled and sown; and I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they will be multiplied and be fruitful, and I will resettle you* to be as in your ancient times. Ezek. 36:9-11.

This refers to regeneration. In Joel,

Fear not, you beasts of My field, for the dwelling-places of the wilderness have been made green. Joel 1:22.

In David,

I was stupid, a beast** was I with God. Ps. 73:12.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast, and I will watch over them to build and to plant. Jer 31:27, 28.

This refers to regeneration.

[2] ‘Wild animals’ (fera) has a similar meaning, as in Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,*** and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

In Job,

You will not fear the wild animals of the earth, for your covenant will be with the stones of the field, and the wild beasts of the field will be at peace with you. Job 5.22, 23.

In Ezekiel,

I will make with them**** a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness. Ezek. 34:25.

In Isaiah,

The wild animals of the field will honour me, for I have given water in the desert. Isa. 43:20.

In Ezekiel,

In its branches all the birds of the air*** made their nests and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezek. 31:6.

This refers to Assyria, which means the spiritual man and is compared to the Garden of Eden. In David,

Praise Jehovah, all his angels, praise Him from the earth, sea monsters, fruit trees, wild animals, and all beasts, creeping things, and flying birds! Ps. 148:2-4, 7, 9, 10.

Here the list is precisely the same – sea monsters, fruit trees, wild animals, beasts, creeping things, and birds. Unless they all mean things that are alive in human beings, they cannot possibly be referred to as praising Jehovah.

[3] A careful distinction is made in the Prophets between beasts and wild animals of the earth, and between beasts and wild animals of the field. The practice of calling goods ‘beasts’ extends to calling people in heaven who are nearest to the Lord ‘living creatures’, both in Ezekiel and in John,

All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God.***** Rev. 7:11; 19:4.

The expression ‘creatures’ is also used of people who are to have the gospel preached to them because they are to be created anew, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15.
* lit. I will cause you to inhabit
** lit. beasts
*** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
**** The Latin means with you; but the Hebrew means with them which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
***** The Latin means the Lamb; but the Greek means God which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 47 47. That these words contain arcana concerning regeneration becomes additionally clear from the fact that verse 24 above spoke of the earth bringing forth ‘living creatures, beasts, and wild animals of the earth’, while in the verse that followed the order was different, namely that God made the wild animals of the earth first and then the beasts. Indeed a person does first produce things so to speak from himself, and continues to do so until he becomes celestial. And so regeneration begins with the external man and moves on to the internal. This is why there is a different order here, with external things coming first.

AC (Elliott) n. 48 48. From these considerations it is now clear that the fifth state is one in which a person speaks from faith which is part of the understanding and in so doing confirms himself in truth and good; and that what he produces at that point are the animate things called ‘the fish of the sea and the birds of the air.* It is also clear that the sixth state exists when he utters truths and performs good deeds from faith which is part of the understanding and so from love which is part of the will. What he produces at that point is called a living creature and a beast. And because at that point he begins to act both from faith and from love simultaneously, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an image; and this is dealt with next.
* lit. birds of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 49 49. Verse 26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,* and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

To people in the Most Ancient Church with whom the Lord spoke face to face, the Lord appeared as Man. (Much can be told about those people, but this is not the time to do so.) For this reason they called nobody man except the Lord and whatever may have been His. They did not even call themselves man, but only the things which they perceived that they had from the Lord, such as every good stemming from love and every truth of faith. These things were said to be human because they were the Lord’s.

[2] In the Prophets therefore, in the highest sense, ‘man’ and ‘son of man’ are used to mean the Lord. In the internal sense they are used to mean wisdom and intelligence, and so everyone who is regenerate, as in Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, a void and an emptiness, and towards the heavens, and behold, they had no light. I looked, and behold there was no man; and all the birds of the air* had fled. Jer. 4:23, 25.

In Isaiah where in the internal sense ‘man’ means a regenerate person, the Lord Himself as the One Man is meant in the highest sense,

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and He who formed him, It was I that made the earth and it was I that created man upon it; My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isa. 45:11-13

[3] The Lord was therefore seen by the Prophets as Man, for example by Ezekiel,

Above the firmament in appearance like a sapphire stone there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness, as the appearance of a Man upon it above. Ezek. 1:26.

And the One whom Daniel saw was called ‘a Son of Man’, or what amounts to the same, Man,

I looked, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming; and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age, which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Dan 7:13-14.

[4] Moreover the Lord quite often calls Himself the Son of Man or Man, and, as is done in Daniel, foretells His entry into glory,

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matt. 24:23, 30.

The literal sense of the Word is called ‘the clouds of heaven’, its internal sense ‘power and glory’. The internal sense, in every single detail, focuses exclusively on the Lord and His kingdom. Consequently it is the spiritual sense which contains power and glory.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 50 50. What the Most Ancient Church understood by ‘the image of the Lord’ exceeds everything one can say about it. Man is totally unaware of the fact that the Lord is governing him by means of angels and spirits, and that at least two spirits and two angels are present with everyone. By means of the spirits he is in communication with the world of spirits, and by means of the angels with heaven. Without this communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits, and with heaven by means of the angels, and so by means of heaven with the Lord, a person cannot exist at all. His entire life depends upon that link, and if the spirits and angels were to withdraw he would perish instantly.

[2] As long as a person remains unregenerate he is governed in an entirely different way from when he is regenerate. As long as he is unregenerate, evil spirits reside with him, who have such dominion over him that angels, though present, can accomplish little more than simply distract him from plunging into utter evil and so divert him towards something good. Indeed they use his own unregenerate desires to divert him towards good, and his illusions of the senses to do so towards truth. At that point he is in communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits who reside with him, but not in the same way with heaven, for the reason that evil spirits have dominion and angels simply forestall them.

[3] When however he is regenerate it is the angels who then have dominion, and they breathe into him every kind of good and truth, as well as a horror and dread of evils and falsifies. Angels do indeed lead, yet they are but servants, for it is the Lord alone who, by means of angels and spirits, governs a person. Now because this is done through the ministry of angels, it is said here, in the plural first of all, ‘Let Us make man in Our image’. Yet because it is still He alone who rules and disposes, it is said in the following verse, in the singular, ‘God created him in His image’. This the Lord also states plainly in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I Jehovah make all things, stretching out the heavens Alone, spreading out the earth by Myself. Isa. 44:24.

Angels themselves also profess that no power at all resides with themselves but that they act from the Lord alone.

AC (Elliott) n. 51 51. As regards what the image is, an image is not a likeness but is ‘according to a likeness’. Therefore it is said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’. A spiritual man is an image, whereas a celestial man is a likeness or exact replica. The spiritual man is the subject in this present chapter, the celestial man in the next. The spiritual man, who is an image, is called by the Lord ‘a son of light’, as in John,

He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. John 12:35, 36.

He is also called ‘a friend’,

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. John 15:14, 15

The celestial man however, who is a likeness, is called ‘a son of God’, in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His Name, who were born, not of blood,* nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12, 13.
* lit. of bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 52 52. As long as someone is a spiritual man, the dominion over him runs from external man to internal man, as is said here, ‘They will have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air’, and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’. When however he becomes celestial and does what is good out of love, then the dominion over him runs from internal man to external man. This is how the Lord describes Himself, and so simultaneously the celestial man, who is a likeness of Him, in David,

You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air,* and the fish of the sea, and that crossing the paths of the seas. Ps. 8:6-8.

Here therefore the beasts are mentioned first, the birds next, and the fish of the sea after that, for the reason that the celestial man starts with love which resides in the will. With the spiritual man it is different. With him fish and birds, which have to do with the understanding, the domain of faith, come first, while beasts come afterwards.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 53 53. Verse 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. ‘Image’ is mentioned twice here for the reason that faith, which resides in the understanding, is called ‘His own image’, while love, which resides in the will, is called ‘the image of God’. The latter comes second in a spiritual man but first in a celestial man.

AC (Elliott) n. 54 54. Male and female He created them. What ‘male and female’ is used to mean in the internal sense was very well known in the Most Ancient Church, but when among later generations the interior sense of the Word was lost, so too was this particular arcanum. Marriages gave them their highest forms of happiness and delight; and they used to liken to a marriage anything that could be likened to it, in order that from it they might feel the happiness of marriage. And because they were internal men they took delight solely in internal things. As to external things, they did no more with them than take them in with their eyes, but their thoughts involved what those things represented – so much so that external things meant nothing to them except insofar as they could reflect internal things in them, and in those internal things reflect celestial things, and in so doing reflect the Lord, who was to them everything. Consequently they reflected the heavenly marriage in those things, which, they perceived, was the source of the happiness in their own marriages. For this reason they called the understanding in the spiritual man Male and the will Female, and when the two acted as one, they called it Marriage. From that Church sprang the common usage of referring to the Church itself, because of its affection for good, as ‘a daughter’, and also ‘a virgin’ – as in Virgin of Zion, Virgin of Jerusalem – and ‘a wife’ as well. On these matters however see verse 23 of the next chapter, and Chapter 3:15.

AC (Elliott) n. 55 55. Verse 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,* and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.

Because the most ancient people applied the term Marriage to understanding and will, or faith and love, when joined together, they gave the name Fruitfulness to any good resulting from that marriage, and Multiplication to any truth. For this reason similar expressions occur in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they will multiply and be fruitful, and I will resettle you** to be as in your ancient times, and I will bless you more than in your former times, and you will know that I am Jehovah, and I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel. Ezek. 36:8-11.

Here ‘man’ is used to mean the spiritual man, who is also called Israel, ‘ancient times’ the Most Ancient Church, ‘former times’ the Ancient Church which came after the Flood. The reason why ‘multiplying’, which relates to truth, comes first and why ‘being fruitful’, which relates to good, follows is that the subject is the person who is to be regenerated, not one who has been regenerated.

[2] When the understanding is coupled to the will, or faith to love, the individual is called by the Lord in Isaiah ‘a married land’,

Your land will no more be called Desolate, but you will be named My-good-pleasure-is-in-her, and your land, Married; for Jehovah will take His pleasure in you, and your land will be married. Isa. 62:4.

The resulting fruits which are matters of truth are called ‘sons’, and the fruits which are matters of good are called ‘daughters’. This recurs very frequently in the Word.

[3] The earth is ‘being filled’ when there are many goods and truths, for when the Lord is ‘blessing’ and ‘saying’ – that is, when He is at work – the increase of good and truth is limitless, as the Lord says,

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of all plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air*** come and nest in its branches. Matt. 13:31, 32.

‘A grain of mustard seed’ is the good a person has before he becomes spiritual. It is ‘the smallest of all seeds’ because he imagines that he himself is the source of the good he does. In reality what he does of himself is nothing but evil, yet because he is in a state of being regenerated there is some element of good, though it is quite ‘the smallest of all’. Later on when faith is being joined to love it grows larger and becomes ‘a plant’. Once it has finally been joined to love it develops into a tree, and at that point ‘the birds of the air,*** which here are truths or intellectual concepts, ‘nest in its branches’, which are facts.

[4] A person is involved in conflict not only when becoming spiritual, but also when he is spiritual. Hence the statement, ‘Subdue the earth, and have dominion over it’.
* lit. bird of the heavens (of the skies)
** lit. I will cause you to inhabit
*** lit. birds of heaven (or the sky)

AC (Elliott) n. 56 56. Verse 29 And God said, Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face* of the whole earth, and every tree in which there is fruit, the tree producing seed will be for you for food. A celestial man takes delight in none but celestial things, and because these suit his life they are called celestial food. A spiritual man takes delight in spiritual things, and because they suit his life they are called spiritual food. The same applies to a natural man and natural things, and because they suit his life they too are called food, and are chiefly facts. Here, since the subject is the spiritual man, his spiritual food is described by representatives, that is to say, spiritual food is represented by ‘the plant yielding seed’ and by ‘the tree in which there is fruit’, which in general are called ‘the tree producing seed’. His natural food is described in the next verse.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 57 57. ‘The plant yielding seed’ is every truth that looks towards a use. ‘The tree in which there is fruit’ is the good that accompanies faith. ‘Fruit’ is what the Lord gives to the celestial man, while ‘seed’, the source of the fruit, is what He gives to the spiritual man. This is why it is said that ‘the tree producing seed will be for you for food’. That celestial food is called ‘fruit from a tree’ is clear from the next chapter where the subject is the celestial man. Here let just that be mentioned which the Lord spoke through Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food. Its leaf will not fall nor its fruit fail. It is re-born monthly, for its waters flow out from the Sanctuary, and its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for medicine. Ezek. 47:12.

‘Waters from the Sanctuary’ means the life and mercy of the Lord, who is the Sanctuary; ‘fruit’ means wisdom, which is food for them; ‘leaf’ is intelligence, which is given them for a use, which is called ‘medicine’. Spiritual food however is called ‘a plant’, as stated through David,

[Jehovah is] my Shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me* lie down in green pastures.** Ps. 23:1, 2.
* The Latin means You makest me; but the Hebrew means He makes me or, as Sw. renders in other places where he quotes this verse, He will make me.
** lit. pastures of the plant

AC (Elliott) n. 58 58. Verse 30 And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air,* and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul [I give] every plant for food; and it was so.

The natural food of this same [spiritual man] is being described here. His natural level is here meant by ‘wild animal of the earth’ and by ‘bird of the air, to which ‘the edible and green plant** has been given for food’. Both kinds of food, natural and spiritual, are referred to in David as follows,

Jehovah causes the grass to grow for the beast, and the plant for man’s service, that he may bring forth bread from the earth. Ps 104:14.

Here ‘beast’ stands for both wild animals of the earth and birds of the air,* both being mentioned in verses 11, 12 of that Psalm.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
** See 996:3

AC (Elliott) n. 59 59. The reason only edible and green plants are mentioned here as food for the natural man is this: While a person is being regenerated and becoming spiritual he is involved constantly in conflict, which is why the Lord’s Church is called militant. For before regeneration started, evil desires were in control, since the whole person consisted entirely of evil desires and resulting falsities. During the process of regeneration his desires and falsities cannot be done away with instantly, since that would amount to destroying the whole person; indeed he has not acquired any other life for himself. So for a long time evil spirits are left with him to activate his desires, and so release them in countless ways. Indeed the spirits are left there to do this in order that those desires may be turned by the Lord towards something good, and in this way the person may be reformed. In the hour of conflict evil spirits are present who absolutely hate everything that is good and true, that is, every element of love and faith in the Lord – elements that alone are good and true because they contain eternal life. These evil spirits leave a person with no other food than that which is compared to edible and green plants. But the Lord gives him a food as well that is compared to the plant yielding seed and to the tree in which there is fruit. These are periods of peace and calm attended by their forms of delight and happiness. This cycle occurs repeatedly.

[2] If the Lord did not protect man moment by moment, and in every shortest instant, he would immediately perish, for there is such murderous hatred reigning in the world of spirits against all forms of love and faith in the Lord as to defy description. I can positively declare that this is so, because for several years now, although still in the [physical] body, I have also been in the next life in the company of spirits. I have been surrounded by evil spirits, even the worst of them, sometimes by thousands, who have been allowed to pour out their venom and molest me in every possible way, but who nevertheless could do no harm to the tiniest hair on my head, so well did the Lord protect me. From all these years of experience I have become thoroughly informed about the character of the world of spirits and also about the conflict which people who are being regenerated must inevitably undergo if they are to attain the happiness of eternal life. But because nobody from just a general description can be so well informed as to have a faith free from doubt, these matters in the Lord’s Divine mercy will therefore be noted in greater detail later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 60 60. Verse 31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.
This verse says ‘very good’, whereas previous verses merely said ‘good’, for now the things of faith make one with those of love. A marriage has accordingly taken place between spiritual and celestial things.

AC (Elliott) n. 61 61. Everything that has to do with cognitions of faith is called spiritual, and everything that has to do with love to the Lord and towards the neighbour is called celestial. The former belong to man’s understanding, the latter to his will.

AC (Elliott) n. 62 62. The stages and states of the regeneration of man – both of mankind and of the individual person – divide into six and are called the days of his creation. Gradually from being no man at all, he first becomes something, though only little, then something more, until the sixth day is reached, when he becomes ‘an image’.

AC (Elliott) n. 63 63. Meanwhile the Lord is constantly fighting on his behalf against evils and falsities and by these conflicts is confirming him in truth and good. The hour of conflict is the hour when the Lord is at work, which is why in the Prophets a regenerate person is called ‘the work of God’s fingers’. Nor does He rest until love is playing the leading part, at which point conflict ceases. When that work has reached the point where faith has been joined to love, it is then called ‘very good’, for the Lord then moves him to be a likeness of Himself. At the end of the sixth day evil spirits go away and good ones take their place; then the person is led into heaven, or the heavenly paradise, which is the subject of the next chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 64 64. This, then, is the internal sense of the Word, its very life, which is nowhere discernible from the sense of the letter. Yet so many are the arcana that several volumes would not be sufficient to explain them all. Here only a very few have been stated, such as may serve to confirm that the subject here is regeneration and that this starts with the external man and moves on to the internal. This is how angels perceive the Word. They know absolutely nothing of what belongs to the letter. They come nowhere near knowing the meaning of one single expression, let alone the names of the lands, cities, rivers, and persons which occur so frequently in historical and prophetical sections. They have a concept only of the things meant by expressions and names. By Adam in Paradise, for example, they Perceive the Most Ancient Church, yet not the Church but that Church’s faith in the Lord; by Noah the Church surviving among its descendants, and which lasted down to the time of Abram; by Abraham they in no way perceive the historical character but a saving faith, which he represented; and so on. Angels in this manner perceive matters of a spiritual and celestial nature totally detached from expressions and names.

AC (Elliott) n. 65 65. When I was reading the Word certain persons were brought into the outer court of heaven, and from there they spoke to me. They kept on saying that they did not understand the smallest detail of any word or letter in it, only what those things meant in the sense that lies next within it. They declared that these things were so beautiful, so arranged and ordered, and for them so moving, that they called them the glory.

AC (Elliott) n. 66 66. There are in general four differing styles in the Word. The FIRST is that of the Most Ancient Church. In their mode of expression, when they mentioned earthly and worldly things their thought was of the spiritual and celestial things which these represented. For this reason they not only expressed themselves by means of representatives but also, to bring them to life, they arranged them in quasi-historical sequence, and this gave them extremely great delight. This style was meant when Hannah Prophesied and said,

Speak that which is high, that which is high; let that which is ancient come from your mouth. 1 Sam. 1:7.

In David those representatives are called,

Dark sayings from antiquity. Ps. 78:2-4.

From the descendants of the Most Ancient Church Moses came into possession of these stories concerning Creation, concerning the Garden of Eden, and of the event, down to the time of Abram.

[2] The SECOND is the historical style, which appears in the books of Moses to describe the time of Abram onwards, and in the books of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, and the Kings. In these books the facts of history are exactly as set out in the sense of the letter, yet every single one contains something entirely different in the internal sense, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with in proper order later on. The THIRD is the prophetical style, the offspring of the style of the Most Ancient Church, a style which they revered. However it is not continuous, nor does it take quasi-historical form as the most ancient style did. Instead it is diffuse and scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense where very deep arcana reside, linked together and following in perfect order. These arcana focus on the external man and the internal, the many states of the Church, heaven itself, and inmostly on the Lord. The FOURTH style is that of the Psalms of David, which varies between the prophetical style and ordinary speech. There in the personage of David asking the internal sense deals with the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 67 67. Since the Lord’s Divine mercy has allowed me to know the internal sense of the Word, and since that sense contains very deep arcana which have never entered the knowledge of anyone before now, and never can unless people know the way things exist in the next life – for most of what is in the internal sense of the Word focuses on, tells about, and embodies those things – I have been given leave to disclose what I have heard and seen during the several years now in which I have been allowed to associate with spirits and angels.

AC (Elliott) n. 68 68. I am well aware of the fact that many people will say that nobody can possibly speak to spirits or angels as long as he is living in the body, and that many will call it delusion. Some will say that I have spread these ideas around so as to win people’s trust, while others will say something different again. But none of this deters me; for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt.

AC (Elliott) n. 69 69. The human being has been created by the Lord in such a way that while living in the body he could at the same time talk to spirits and angels, as actually happened in most ancient times; for being a spirit clothed with a body he is one among them. But because, after a period of time, people have so immersed themselves in bodily and worldly interests that they hardly care about anything different, that path has therefore been closed. But as soon as the bodily interests in which a person is immersed retire into the background, the path is opened, and he finds himself among spirits and shares his life with them.

AC (Elliott) n. 70 70. Since I am at liberty to disclose what I have heard and seen these several years, I need now at the out set to state what happens to a person when he is re-awakened, that is, to state the process by which he passes from the life of the body into that of eternity. So that I might know that people do live on after death, I was allowed to talk to and mix with many whom I knew during their lifetime. And this has not been for just a day or a week, but for months and up to a year; I have talked to them and mixed with them just as I did in the world. They were utterly amazed that during their lifetime, like the majority of other people, they were so disbelieving that they thought they would not be alive after death, though in fact scarcely days stand between the death of the body and being in the next life, for it is a continuation of life.

AC (Elliott) n. 71 71. Now because these matters would be diffuse and disjointed if they were included among those that have to do with the Word, let them in the Lord’s Divine mercy be appended in some order before and after each chapter as sections additional to information included here and there in any chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 72 72. At the end of this chapter let it be told how man is awakened from the dead and enters the life of eternity.

GENESIS 2:1-17

1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made, and rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, for on that day He rested from all His work which God had created when making it.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when He created them, on the day in which Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens.

5 And no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth; and there was no man to till the ground.

6 And He caused a mist to go up from the earth, and it watered all the face* of the ground.

7 And Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;** and man became a living soul.

8 And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, from the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

9 And Jehovah God caused to spring up out of the ground every tree desirable to the sight and good for food; and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river was going out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four heads.

11 The of the first is the Pishon; this encompasses the whole land of Havillah, where there is gold.

12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium is there and the shoham stone.

13 And the name of the second river is the Gihon, that which encompasses the whole land of Cush.

14 And the name of the third river is the Hiddekel. This goes eastwards towards Asshur. And the fourth river is the Phrath.

15 And Jehovah God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and to care for it.

16 And Jehovah God commanded the man and said, From every tree in the garden you may indeed eat.

17 But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat of it you will surely die.
* lit. the faces
** lit. Of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 73 73. CONTENTS

Verse 1 deals next with the man who from being dead has already progressed to being spiritual, and from being spiritual now progresses to being celestial.

AC (Elliott) n. 74 74. The celestial man is the seventh day on which the Lord rests, verses 2, 3.

AC (Elliott) n. 75 75. His factual knowledge and rational discernment are described by the shrub and the plant watered by the mist from the ground, verses 5, 6.

AC (Elliott) n. 76 76. His life is described by breathing into him the breath of life,* verse 7.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 77 77. After that, his intelligence is described by ‘a garden in Eden, from the east’, where ‘the trees desirable to the sight’ are perceptions of what is true, and ‘trees good for food’ perceptions of what is good. Love is described by ‘the tree of life”, faith by ‘the tree of knowledge’, verses 8, 9.

AC (Elliott) n. 78 78. Wisdom is described by ‘the river in the garden’, from which came ‘four rivers’. The first of these is good and truth; the second is the knowledge of all things constituting good and truth, that is, constituting love and faith, which belong to the internal man; the third is reason, and the fourth knowledge, which belong to the external man. All of these derive from wisdom, which in turn stems from love to the Lord and faith in Him, verses 10-14.

AC (Elliott) n. 79 79. The celestial man is a garden such as this. But because it is the Lord’s, though he is free to enjoy all things in it he is not free to take possession of them as his own, verse 15.

AC (Elliott) n. 80 80. He is permitted by every perception that is from the Lord to become aware of what good and truth are, but not to do so from himself or from the world, that is, to probe into mysteries that are part of faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge which cause the celestial in him to die, verses 16, 17.

AC (Elliott) n. 81 81. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The subject in this chapter is the celestial man; in the previous chapter it was the spiritual man who progressed to being spiritual from having been a dead man. But since people nowadays do not know what the celestial man is, and scarcely know what the spiritual man is or what the dead man is, let the nature of each one be presented briefly, in order that it may be known how they differ.

First. The dead man acknowledges no other truth or good than that belonging to the body and the world. This he also worships. The spiritual man acknowledges spiritual and celestial truth and good. But he does so not so much from love as from faith, which is also the basis of his actions. The celestial man believes and perceives spiritual and celestial truth and good, and does not acknowledge any other faith than that which stems from love, which is also the basis of his actions.

Second. The dead man has solely the life of the body and of the world as his ends in view. He does not know what eternal life is, or what the Lord is. Or if he does know, he does not believe. The spiritual man has eternal life, and therefore the Lord, as his ends in view. The celestial man has the Lord and therefore His kingdom and eternal life as his ends in view.

Third. The dead man when involved in conflict nearly always gives in. And when there is no conflict evils and falsities reign supreme within him, making him their slave. His bonds are external ones, such as fear of the law, loss of life, wealth, profits, and reputation on account of these. The spiritual man is involved in conflict, but he always conquers. The bonds which restrain him are internal, and are called the bonds of conscience. The celestial man is not involved in conflict. If evils and falsities assail him, he treats them with contempt, and is therefore called a conqueror. No visible bonds restrict him, for he is a free man. His bonds, which are not visible, are perceptions of good and truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 82 82. Verse 1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

These words are used to mean that the individual has now become spiritual to the point of being the sixth day. ‘Heaven’ is his internal man, and ‘earth’ his external. ‘The host of them’ are love, faith, and cognitions of them, which previously were meant by ‘the great lights and the stars’. That the internal man is called ‘heaven’ and the external ‘earth’ becomes clear from the quotations from the Word given in the previous chapter, to which the following from Isaiah may be added,

I will make man (vir) more rare than fine gold, and man (homo) than the precious gold of Ophir. Therefore I will strike the heavens with terror, and the earth will be shaken out of its place. Isa. 13:12, 13.

And elsewhere in Isaiah,

You will forget Jehovah your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth. But I will put My words in your mouth and hide you in the shadow of My hand, that I may stretch out heaven and lay the foundation of the earth. Isa 51:13, 16.

These quotations show that both heaven and earth have reference to man (homo). They refer, it is true, to the Most Ancient Church, but the more interior contents of the Word are such that whatever statement is made about the Church is a statement about the individual member of the Church. If he were not the Church, he could not be a part of the Church, just as anyone who is not a temple of the Lord cannot be that which is meant by a temple, namely the Church and heaven. This also is why the Most Ancient Church is called Man (a singular noun).

AC (Elliott) n. 83 83. ‘The heavens and the earth and all the host of them’ are said to be ‘finished’ when man has become ‘the sixth day’, for at that point faith and love make one. And when they do make one, love, which is the celestial, starts to be primary instead of faith, which is the spiritual; that is, he starts to be a celestial man.

AC (Elliott) n. 84 84. Verses 2, 3 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made, and rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, for on that day He rested from all His work which God had created when making it.

The celestial man is ‘the seventh day’; and because throughout the six days it has been the Lord at work, that man is called ‘His work’. In addition, because conflict at that point ceases, the Lord is said ‘to rest from all His work’. It was for this reason that the seventh day was made holy and was called the Sabbath from a word for ‘rest’; and it was in this manner that man was created, formed, and made, as may be seen plainly from the words themselves.

AC (Elliott) n. 85 85. That the celestial man is the seventh day, and that the seventh day was for that reason made holy and called the Sabbath from a word for ‘rest’, are as yet undisclosed arcana. This is because people have not known what the celestial man is, and few what the spiritual man is. In their ignorance they could not avoid making the latter the same as the celestial, when in fact there is a vast difference between them; see 81. As regards the seventh day and the celestial man’s being the seventh day or Sabbath, this is clear from the fact that the Lord Himself is the Sabbath, for which reason He also says,

The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Mark 2:28.

These words embody the concept that the Lord is Man himself, and the Sabbath itself. He gives the name Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest, to His kingdom in heaven and on earth. The Most Ancient Church, which is the subject here, was the Lord’s Sabbath more than any subsequent Church.

[2] Every subsequent inmost Church has been a Sabbath of the Lord, and so is every regenerate person when he becomes celestial, since he is a likeness of the Lord. Six days of conflict or labour precede this. In the Jewish Church these things were represented by the work days, and by the seventh which was the Sabbath; for in that Church, everything that had been ordained was representative of the Lord and His kingdom. The Ark too had a similar representation when it was travelling and when it came to rest. Its travels through the wilderness represented conflicts and temptations, and its resting represented states of peace. This is why when it travelled Moses said,

Arise, O Jehovah, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee from Your face.* And when it came to rest he said, Return, O Jehovah, to the myriads of the thousands of Israel. Num. 10:35, 36.

The same portion of Scripture speaks of the Ark ‘travelling from the mountain of Jehovah to search out rest for them’. ibid. Verse 33.

The Sabbath is used to describe the celestial man’s rest in Isaiah,

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, so that you do not your desire on My holy day, and you call the things which belong to the Sabbath delights honourable to the Holiness of Jehovah, and you honour it so that you do not your own ways, nor find your own desire and speak your own words, then you will be delightful to Jehovah, and I will have you carried over the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob. Isa. 58:13, 14.

The celestial man is such that he does not base his actions on his own desires but on what pleases the Lord; this is his desire. In this way he enjoys inward peace and happiness, here expressed by ‘being carried up over the high places of the earth’. At the same time he enjoys outward contentment and joy, meant by ‘being fed with the heritage of Jacob’.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 86 86. When the spiritual man, already made ‘the sixth day’, starts to become celestial, which is the subject here at the beginning, it is ‘the evening of the Sabbath’. This was represented in the Jewish Church by the holiness of the Sabbath extending from evening onwards. The celestial man, dealt with in what follows next, is the morning.

AC (Elliott) n. 87 87. Another reason why the celestial man is the Sabbath or rest is that conflict ceases when he becomes celestial. Evil spirits withdraw and good spirits approach, as do celestial angels. When these are present evil spirits cannot possibly be present too, but flee far away. And because it was not the person himself who fought but the Lord alone on his behalf, it is said that ‘the Lord rested’.

AC (Elliott) n. 88 88. When the spiritual man becomes celestial he is called ‘God’s work’, because the Lord alone fought on his behalf and created, formed, and made him. This is why it is said here that ‘God finished His work on the seventh day’, and why it is twice said that ‘He rested from all His work’. Time and again in the Prophets man is called ‘the work of Jehovah’s hands and fingers’, as in Isaiah, when someone who is regenerate is the subject,

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and He who formed him, Seek signs from Me concerning My sons, and over the work of My hands command Me. I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. For thus said Jehovah who created the heavens and who is God,who formed the earth and made it: He who established it did not create it an emptiness; He formed it to be inhabited. It was I Jehovah, and no god else besides Me. Isa. 45:11, 12, 18, 21.

It is clear from these verses that the new creation, or regeneration, is the work of the Lord alone. Each of the verbs, create, form, and make, is quite different in its usage, as in these verses from Isaiah where it is said that ‘He created the heavens, formed the earth and made it’. Also elsewhere in Isaiah,

Every one who is called by My name, I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, I have also made him. Isa. 43:7.

The same applies in the previous and in the present chapters, as for example here in verse 3, ‘He rested from all His work which God had created when making it’. Wherever these verbs occur the internal sense possesses a distinct concept, as it also does when the Lord is called Creator, or Former, or Maker.

AC (Elliott) n. 89 89. Verse 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when He created them, on the day in which Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens.
‘The generations of the heavens and the earth’ are stages in the formation of the celestial man. The fact that the formation of that man is now the subject is also quite clear from the details that follow, for example ‘no plant had yet sprung up’, ‘there was no man to till the ground’, then ‘Jehovah God formed the man’, and after that ‘every beast and bird of the air’.* According to the previous chapter, man, beast, and bird have been formed already, which means that a different man is the subject here. This is further evident from the fact that ‘Jehovah God’ is now mentioned for the first time, whereas previously, when the subject has been the spiritual man, He is called simply ‘God’. Also ‘ground and field’ are referred to now, whereas previously it was merely ‘the earth’. And in the present verse ‘heaven’ is first of all mentioned before ‘earth’ and then ‘earth’ before ‘heaven’. This is because ‘earth’ means the external man and ‘heaven’ the internal. With the spiritual man, in whom reformation is taking place, the starting point is the earth or external man; but here, where the subject is celestial man, the starting point is the internal man or heaven.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 90 90. Verses 5, 6 And no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth; and there was no man to till the ground. And He caused a mist to go up from the earth, and it watered all the face* of the ground.

‘Shrub of the field’ and ‘plant of the field’ are used to mean in general everything which his external man brings forth. ‘Earth’ is the external man while he was spiritual; ‘ground’, and ‘field’ as well, is his external man when he is becoming celestial. ‘The rain’, which is next called ‘a mist’, is the serenity of peace when conflict comes to an end.
* lit. The faces

AC (Elliott) n. 91 91. But unless man’s state in which, from being spiritual, he is becoming celestial is known, one cannot possibly perceive what these expressions embody, for they are qui the deep arcana. When he is spiritual, the external man is not yet willing to comply with and serve the internal man, and so there is conflict. But when he is becoming celestial, the external man starts to comply with and serve the internal. As a result conflict ceases, and tranquillity ensues; see 87. This tranquillity is meant by ‘the rain’ and by ‘the mist’, for it resembles a mist, with which his internal man waters and bathes the external. This serenity which is characteristic of Peace brings forth the things which are called ‘the shrub of the field’ and ‘the plant of the field’. Specifically, these are the rational concepts and the facts that have a celestial-spiritual origin.

AC (Elliott) n. 92 92. None but the person who is acquainted with the state of peace is capable of knowing about the serenity of the peace of the external man, which ensues when conflict, the unrest caused by evil desires and by falsities, comes to an end. That state is so joyful that it transcends every idea of joy. It is not just an end of conflict; it is also life coming from an inward peace, influencing the external man in a way that defies description. At that point truths of faith and goods of love are born, which draw their life from the joy that peace brings.

AC (Elliott) n. 93 93. This state of the celestial man who has been granted the serenity of peace, who has been recreated by the rain, and freed from the slavery of evil and falsity, the Lord describes through Ezekiel as follows,

I will make with them a covenant of peace and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods, and I will give them and the places around My hill a blessing, and I will cause the rain to descend in its season. They will be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field will give its fruit, and the earth will give its increase, and they will be there with confidence on their land, and they will know that I am Jehovah, that I will break the bars of their yoke, and I will free them from the hand of those who enslave them. You are My flock, the flock of My pasture. You are man, I am your God. Ezek. 34:25-27, 31.

And through Hosea He describes the attainment of this on the third day, which has the same meaning in the Word as the seventh,

He will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. And we shall know, and we shall press on to know Jehovah. Ready as the dawn is His going forth, and He will come to us like the rain, like the latter rain that waters the earth. Hosea 6:2, 3.

And through Ezekiel, when the Ancient Church is the subject, the attainment of that state is compared to the seed of the field,

I gave you to be like the seed of the field; and you grew up and became tall and reached full beauty. Ezek. 16:7.

It is also compared to

The shoot of plantings, and the work of the hands of Jehovah God. Isa. 60:11.

AC (Elliott) n. 94 94. Verse 7 And Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;* and man became a living soul. ‘To form the man, dust from the ground’ is to form his external man, which had not previously been man, for it was said in verse 5 that there was no man to till the ground. ‘Breathing into his nostrils the breath of life’* means giving him the life that is inherent in faith and love. By ‘man became a living soul’ is meant that the external man as well became living.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 95 95. The subject here is the life of the external man. In the two previous verses it was the life of his faith or understanding, now in this verse the life of his love or will. Previously the external man was not willing to comply with or serve the internal but constantly struggled against it, and so the external man at that time was not man. But now that he has become celestial the external man starts to comply with and serve the internal, and becomes man as well – in particular through the life inherent in faith and the life inherent in love. The life of faith prepares him to be man, while the life of love actually makes him so.

AC (Elliott) n. 96 96. The implications of the statement that Jehovah God ‘breathed into his nostrils’ are as follows: In ancient times, and in the Word, the nostrils meant something that was pleasing by virtue of its odour, which means perception Consequently one reads many times of Jehovah ‘smelling an odour of rest’ from burnt offerings and from the things which represented Him and His kingdom. And since matters of love and faith are most pleasing to Him, it is said that He breathed the breath of life’ through his nostrils. This is why Jehovah’s Anointed, who is the Lord, is called ‘the-Breath-of-nostrils’, Lam. 4:20. And this was what the Lord Himself meant by breathing on His disciples, in John,

He breathed and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 10:22.

AC (Elliott) n. 97 97. A further reason why life is described as breathing and breath is that members of the Most Ancient Church perceived states of love and faith by means of states of breathing, which states changed step by step in their descendants. To say anything as yet about that type of breathing is not possible since it is completely hidden from men at the present day. The most ancient people were well acquainted with it, and so are people in the next life; but nobody on earth up to now has been acquainted with it. This is why people used to liken the spirit or life to the wind, including the Lord when talking about man’s regeneration, in John,

The spirit (or wind) blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who has been begotten of the spirit. John 3:8.

Similarly in David,

By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all their host by the spirit (or wind) of His mouth. Ps. 33:6.

And in the same author,

You gatherest up their spirit, they breathe their last and return to their dust. You send forth Your spirit, they are created, and You renewest the face* of the ground. Ps. 104:29, 30.

That ‘breath’ stands for the life inherent in faith and love is clear in Job,

It is the spirit in a man, and the breath of Shaddai** makes them understand. Job 32:8.

Also in the same book,

The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of Shaddai** has given me life. Job 33:4.
* lit. the faces
** Usually translated the Almighty; but see 1992.

AC (Elliott) n. 98 98. Verse 8 And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, from the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

‘Garden’ means intelligence, ‘Eden’ love, ‘the east’ the Lord. ‘A garden in Eden, from the east’ therefore means celestial man’s intelligence which flows in by way of love, from the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 99 99. The life – that is, the order of life – as it exists with the spiritual man is such that the Lord flows in by means of faith, into his intellectual concepts, his rational concepts, and his factual knowledge. But because his external man is at war with the internal, it seems as though intelligence were not flowing in from the Lord but from himself by way of facts and rational concepts. But life – that is, the order of life – as it exists with the celestial man is such that the Lord flows in by way of love and of faith included with love into his intellectual concepts, his rational concepts, and his factual knowledge. And since there is no resistance, he perceives that this is the case. In this way order which up to now has with the spiritual man been turned upside-down is restored with the celestial. This order, which is man, is called ‘the garden in Eden, from the east’. In the highest sense ‘the garden planted by Jehovah God in Eden, from the east’ is the Lord Himself; in the inmost sense, which is also the universal sense, it is the Lord’s kingdom and heaven, where a person is placed on becoming celestial. At this point his state enables him to be with angels in heaven, and to be virtually one among them. In fact, man has been so created that while living on earth he may at the same time be in heaven. In that situation all of his thoughts, all his mental images produced by thoughts, and even his words and deeds lie open, containing what is celestial and spiritual. They lie open all the way from the Lord. Indeed everyone has the Lord’ s life within him, enabling him to have perception.

AC (Elliott) n. 100 100. That ‘a garden’ means intelligence and ‘Eden’ love, is also evident in Isaiah,

Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the Garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isa. 51:3.

Here ‘wilderness’, ‘joy’, and ‘confession’ are terms used by the prophet to express the celestial things of faith, that is, things that belong to love. But ‘desert’, ‘gladness’, and ‘the voice of song’ express the spiritual things of faith, which in turn are matters of the understanding. The former relate to ‘Eden’, the latter to ‘a garden’. For throughout this prophet dual expressions for the same thing are constantly occurring, with one expression meaning celestial things, the other spiritual. For more about what the garden in Eden means, see at verse to below.

AC (Elliott) n. 101 101. The Lord is ‘the east’. This too is clear from several places in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

He brought me to the gate, to the gate facing the way of the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the voice of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory. Ezek. 43:1, 2, 4.

The Lord’s being ‘the east’ was the reason for the sacred practice in the Jewish representative Church, before the Temple was built, of facing eastwards when praying.

AC (Elliott) n. 102 102. Verse 9 And Jehovah God caused to spring up out of the ground every tree desirable to the sight and good for food; and the tree of life* in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
‘Tree’ means perception, ‘tree desirable to the sight’ the perception of what is true, ‘tree good for food’ the perception of what is good, ‘tree of life’ love and faith deriving from love, and ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ faith derived from sensory evidence, that is, from knowledge.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 103 103. The reason trees here mean perceptions is that the celestial man is the subject of the spiritual man were the subject the meaning would be different, for the character of the subject determines that of the predicate.

AC (Elliott) n. 104 104. Today people do not know what perception is. It is a certain inward feeling, wholly from the Lord, as to whether a thing is true and good. Such perception was fully known to the Most Ancient Church, and with the angels it exists so excellently that they know and recognize what is true and good, what comes from the Lord and what comes from self, and also the character of anyone who approaches them merely from the manner of his approach and merely from a single one of his ideas. The spiritual man has no perception, but he does have conscience. The dead man does not even have conscience. Nor do most people know what conscience is, much less what perception is.

AC (Elliott) n. 105 105. ‘The tree of life’* is love and faith deriving from love; ‘in the middle of the garden’ means in the will of the internal man. The chief place that the Lord occupies in men and angels is the will, which in the Word is called the heart. But since nobody can do good with self as the source, the will or the heart is not man’s, even though it is referred to as his. What is man’s is evil desire, and this he calls his will. Since the will is the middle of the garden, where the tree of life* is, and since no will, only evil desire, belongs to man, ‘the tree of life” is therefore the mercy of the Lord, who is the source of all love and faith and consequently of all life.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 106 106. More will be said later on regarding what the tree of the garden, or perception, is; what the tree of life,* or love and faith deriving from love, is; and what the tree of knowledge, or faith based on sensory evidence and on knowledge.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 107 107. Verse 10 And a river was going out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four heads.

‘A river was going out of Eden ‘means wisdom deriving from love, which is Eden. ‘To water the garden’ is to confer intelligence. ‘From there to divide into four heads’ describes intelligence coming through four rivers, as below.

AC (Elliott) n. 108 108. Whenever the most ancient people compared man to a garden they would also compare wisdom and everything connected with it to rivers. Yet they did not merely compare but actually called them such since it was characteristic of their speech to do so. At a later time the Prophets in a similar way sometimes compared them, and sometimes actually called them, by these names, as in Isaiah,

Your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as the daylight; and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not. Isa. 58:10, 11.

This refers to people who receive love and faith. Also,

Like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river, like aloes* Jehovah has planted, like cedars beside the waters. Num. 14:6.

This refers to people who are regenerate. In Jeremiah,

Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah. He will be like a tree planted beside the waters, which will send out its roots above the stream. Jer. 17:7, 8.

An instance of regenerate people not being compared to, but actually being called, a garden and a tree beside the rivers occurs in Ezekiel,

The waters caused it to grow, the depth of the waters made it grow tall, the river leading around the place of its planting, and he sent out his lines of water to all the trees of the field. It became beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was towards many waters. The cedars did not overshadow it in the garden of God, the fir trees were not equal to its branches, and the plane trees were not like its boughs. No tree in the garden of God was equal to it in its beauty. I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God envied it. Ezek. 31:4, 7-9.

From these quotations it is clear that when the most ancient people likened man, or what is the same, the things that are in man, to a garden, they also added the waters and rivers by which it was watered, and that by ‘waters and rivers’ they understood the things which would cause growth.
* The word used in 1st Latin edition means tents, but in other places where Sw. quotes this text a word meaning aloes occurs. In Hebrew the spelling, though not the pronunciation, of the two words is identical.

AC (Elliott) n. 109 109. That for all their appearance in man wisdom and intelligence belong, as has been said, to the Lord alone is plainly stated by means of similar representatives in Ezekiel,

Behold, waters were issuing from below the threshold of the House towards the east, for the House faced eastwards. And He said, These waters are issuing out to the boundary towards the east; and they go down over the plain and come to the sea. Having been brought into the sea, the waters will be healed. And it will happen that every living creature* that creeps, even to everything to which the water of the rivers comes, will live. And beside the river there will rise up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food. Its leaf** will not wither, and its fruit will not fail; it is reborn monthly, for these its waters flow out from the Sanctuary, and its fruits will be for food and its leaf for medicine. Ezek. 47:1, 8, 9, 12.

Here the Lord is meant by ‘the east’ and also by ‘the Sanctuary from which waters and rivers flowed forth’. Similarly in John,

He showed me a pure river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaf of the tree was for the healing of the nations. Rev. 22:1, 2.
* lit. every living soul
** The Latin means branch; but the Hebrew means leaf which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 110 110. Verses 11, 12 The name of the first is the Pishon; this encompasses the whole land of Havillah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium is there and the shoham stone.

The first river or ‘the Pishon’ means intelligence which comprises faith deriving from love. ‘The land of Havillah’ means the mind; ‘gold’ that which is good; ‘bdellium and shoham’ that which is true. The reason gold is mentioned twice is that it means the good that belongs to love, and the good that belongs to faith deriving from love. And the reason bdellium and shoham are mentioned is that the first means the truth that belongs to love, and the second the truth that belongs to faith deriving from love. Such is the nature of the celestial man.

AC (Elliott) n. 111 111. It is extremely difficult however to present these matters as they stand in their interior sense because nowadays people do not know what faith deriving from love is, what wisdom is, and what intelligence from wisdom is. For external people are hardly aware of anything except knowledge which they call intelligence and wisdom, and even faith. They do not even know what love is. And many people do not know what will and understanding are, or that they comprise a single mind. Yet these are distinct and separate entities, totally distinct and separate. And the whole of heaven is ordered by the Lord quite distinctly and separately according to differences of love and faith, which are countless.

AC (Elliott) n. 112 112. It should be recognized however that no wisdom can possibly exist unless it derives from love, and so from the Lord. Nor can any intelligence do so unless it derives from faith, and so again from the Lord. And no good can possibly exist unless it derives from love, and so from the Lord. Nor can any truth do so unless it derives from faith, and so from the Lord. Things which do not derive from love and faith, and so from the Lord, are given the same names, but they are not genuine.

AC (Elliott) n. 113 113. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the good that belongs to wisdom or else to love to be meant and represented by ‘gold’. All the gold of the Ark, the Temple, the golden table,* the lampstands, the vessels, and on Aaron’s vestments, meant and represented good that belongs to wisdom or else to love. Similarly in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

In your wisdom and in your intelligence have made wealth for yourself, and you have made gold and silver in your treasures. Ezek. 28:4.

Here it is plainly stated that gold and silver, or good and truth, are the products of wisdom and intelligence, for ‘silver’ here means truth, as also does the silver of the Tabernacle** and the Temple. In Isaiah,

A multitude of camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Jehovah. Isa. 60:6.

So too the wise men from the east who came to Jesus after His birth,

And they fell down and worshipped Him, and they opened their treasures, and offered Him gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matt. 2:1, 11.

Here also ‘gold’ means good, ‘frankincense and myrrh’ those things that are pleasing, because they derive from love and faith, and are consequently called ‘the praises of Jehovah’. ‘Gold’ is for the same reason mentioned in David,

He will live, and He will give to him from the gold of Sheba, and will pray for him continually, and bless him every day. Ps. 72:15.
* i.e. the table of Shewbread, or the table for the Bread of the Presence
** The latin here means the Ark but Sw. is clearly referring to the Tabernacle.

AC (Elliott) n. 114 114. The truth of faith was also meant and represented in the Word precious stones, for example, those in the breast plate of judgement, and upon the shoulder-pieces of Aaron’s ephod. in the breastplate, the gold, blue, purple, double-dyed scarlet, and fine-twined linen represented matters of love, while the precious stones represented matters of faith deriving from love, as did the two stones of remembrance on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod which were made from shoham encompassed with settings of gold, Exod. 28:9-22. The same point, that the truth of faith is meant and represented by precious stones, is plainly stated in Ezekiel when the subject is the person who possesses the heavenly riches of wisdom and intelligence,

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering ruby, topaz, diamond, tarshish, shoham, and jasper, sapphire, chrysoprase, and emerald. And gold, the work of your drums and of your pipes, was within you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created. Ezek. 28:12, 13, 15.

Anyone may see that celestial and spiritual things of faith, and not just stones, are meant. Indeed each stone represented a particular essential element of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 115 115. When the most ancient people mentioned parts of the earth they understood the things these meant, just as people nowadays who have the idea that the Land of Canaan and Mount Zion mean heaven do not even think of a land or of a mountain when these locations are mentioned, but only of the things they mean. The same applies hereto the land of Havillah. That land is also mentioned in Gen. 25:18, where it is said, in reference to the sons of Ishmael, that ‘they dwelt from Havillah to Shur which is opposite Egypt as you come towards Asshur’. People who have heavenly ideas perceive from these words nothing else but intelligence and what flows from intelligence. And in the same way by encompassing in the statement ‘the river Pishon encompasses the whole land of Havillah’ they perceive flowing in. And by the shoham stones on the shoulder-pieces of Aaron’s ephod being encompassed with settings of gold, Exod. 28:11, they perceive that the good of love was flowing into the truth of faith. The same is found many times in other places.

AC (Elliott) n. 116 116. Verse 13 And the name of the second river is the Gihon, that which encompasses the whole land of Cush.

‘The second river’, which is called the Gihon, means the cognizance of all things that have to do with what is good and what is true, that is, with love and faith. ‘The land of Cush’ means the mind, or [mental] power. The mind consists of will and understanding. All that is said about the first river has reference to the will, and all that is said about this [second river] has reference to the understanding, to which the cognitions of good and of truth belong.

AC (Elliott) n. 117 117. The land of Cush, which is Ethiopia, also abounded in gold, precious stones, and spices. These, as has been stated, mean good, truth, and pleasing things produced from these, such as those that belong to cognitions of love and faith. This becomes clear from the places quoted already in 113 – Isa. 60:6; Matt. 2:1, 11; Ps 72:15. That Cush or Ethiopia, and Sheba too, when used in the Word, have a similar meaning is clear in the Prophets, as in Zephaniah, where also the rivers of Cush are mentioned.

In the morning He will bring His judgement to light. For at that time I will turn to the peoples with a clear language that they may all call on the name of Jehovah, that they may serve Him with one accord.* From the crossing-point of the rivers of Cush My worshippers will bring My offering. Zeph. 3:5, 9, 10.

And in Daniel, when the king of the north and the king of the south are the subject,

He will have dominion over the secret hoards of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians will follow at his feet. Dan 11:43.

Here ‘Egypt’ stands for facts and ‘the Ethiopians’ for cognitions.

[2] In Ezekiel,

The traders of Sheba and Raamah, they were your and in every precious stone, and gold. Ezek. 27:22.

These [traders] in the same way mean cognitions of faith. In David, when the Lord is the subject, and so the celestial man also,

In his days the righteous man will flourish, and much peace, until the moon will be no more. The kings of Tarshish and the isles will render their tribute; the kings of Sheba and Seba will bring their gift. Ps 72:7, 10.

The whole context of this Psalm shows plainly that these words mean things on the celestial side of faith. Similar things were meant by the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon and posed hard questions, and who brought him spices, gold, and precious stones, 1 Kings to:1-3. For everything that appears in the historical sections of the Word, no less than in the Prophets, means, represents, and embodies arcana.
* lit. with one shoulder

AC (Elliott) n. 118 118. Verse 14 And the name of the third river is the Hiddekel. This eastwards towards Asshur. And the fourth river is the Phrath.

‘The river Hiddekel’ is reason or the sharp-sightedness of reason. ‘Asshur’ is the rational mind. The river’s ‘going eastwards towards Asshur’ means that the sharp-sightedness of reason comes from the Lord by way of the internal man into the rational mind, which belongs to the external man. ‘The Phrath’ or the Euphrates is knowledge, which is the extremity or boundary.

AC (Elliott) n. 119 119. That ‘Asshur’ means the rational mind, that is, a person’s rational, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in its branches, and a forest shade, and of a great height, and its top among thick boughs. The waters caused it to grow, the depth of the water; made it tall, a river leading round about the place of its plantings. Ezek. 31:34.

The rational is called ‘a cedar in Lebanon’. ‘The top among thick boughs’ means facts in the memory, this being an apt description of them. This is clearer still in Isaiah,

On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt and Egypt into Asshur, and the Egyptians will serve Asshur.* On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isa. 19:23-25.

Here and in many other places ‘Egypt’ means knowledge, ‘Asshur’ reason, and ‘Israel’ intelligence.
* The Hebrew, of this text in Isaiah may be read in two different ways – serve Asshur or serve with Asshur. Most English versions of Isaiah prefer the second of these.

AC (Elliott) n. 120 120. Like Egypt, the Euphrates too means knowledge or facts, and also sensory evidence from which facts are obtained. This is clear from the Word in the Prophets, as in Micah, She, my enemy, said, Where is Jehovah your God? A day on which He will build your walls. On that day what has been determined will be absent afar off. That day also He will come to you from Asshur, and to the cities of Egypt and to the River (the Euphrates) Micah 7:10-12.

The Prophets spoke in this way when referring to the coming of the Lord, who was going to regenerate man so that he would become as a celestial man. In Jeremiah,

What have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River (the Euphrates)? Jer 2:18.

Here similarly ‘Egypt’ and ‘the Euphrates’ stand for facts, and ‘Asshur’ for reasonings based on them. In David,

You did cause a vine to journey out of Egypt. You did cast out the nations, You did plant it. You did send out its shoots even to the sea, and its little branches to the River (the Euphrates) Ps 80:8, 11.

Here too ‘the river Euphrates’ stands for sensory evidence and factual knowledge. Indeed the Euphrates was the boundary to Israel’s territories in the direction of Asshur, just as factual knowledge in the memory is the boundary of intelligence and wisdom of the spiritual and celestial man. The same is meant by these words addressed to Abraham,

To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the river Euphrates. Gen 15:18.

Both of these two boundaries have the same meaning.

AC (Elliott) n. 121 121. The nature of celestial order, or how the things that constitute life progress, becomes clear from these rivers. It is as follows: The progression starts from the Lord who is the east. From Him comes wisdom; through wisdom comes intelligence, and through intelligence reason. Thus facts which belong to the memory are quickened by means of reason. Such is the proper order of life, and such the nature of celestial people. Consequently since the elders of Israel represented celestial people they were called ‘wise, intelligent, and knowledgeable men’, Deut. 1:13, 15. So too was Bezalel, who made the Ark, of whom it is said that he was filled with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with intelligence, and with knowledge, and with all workmanship. Exod. 31:3; 35:31; 36:1, 2.

AC (Elliott) n. 122 122. Verse 15 And Jehovah God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and to care for it.

‘The garden of Eden’ means all the qualities of the celestial man which are the subject here. ‘Tilling it and caring for it’ means that he is allowed to enjoy all these things but not to possess them as his own, since they are the Lord’s.

AC (Elliott) n. 123 123. By virtue of his perception the celestial man acknowledges that every single thing is the Lord’s. The spiritual man acknowledges this too, but in his case it is something oral, because he has learned it from the Word. The worldly and bodily-minded man neither acknowledges nor admits it. Instead he says that everything residing with him is his own, and imagines that if he were to lose it, he would perish completely.

AC (Elliott) n. 124 124. The fact that wisdom, intelligence, reason, and knowledge are not man’s but the Lord’s is quite clear from what the Lord Himself taught, for example in Matthew, when the Lord compares Himself to a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and let it out to tenants, Matt. 21:33. In John,

The Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13, 14.

Also in the same gospel,

Man cannot receive anything unless it is given him from heaven. John 3:27.

Anyone who has been granted knowledge of merely a few of heaven’s arcana knows that this is true.

AC (Elliott) n. 125 125. Verse 16 And Jehovah God commanded the man and said, From every tree in the garden you may indeed eat.

‘Eating of every tree’ is recognizing and knowing, from perception, what good and truth are; for, as stated already, ‘a tree’ means perception. Members of the Most Ancient Church possessed the cognitions of true faith by means of revelations, for they talked to the Lord and to angels. They were also taught through visions and dreams, which to them were supremely delightful and blissful. They received perception from the Lord continually; and as a result of that perception, when they thought from things in their memory they instantly perceived whether these were true and good, insomuch that when anything false came up they not only had nothing to do with it but were also horrified. This is also the state of angels. Later on however knowledge of what is true and good took the place of the perception which the Most Ancient Church enjoyed, a knowledge based on what had been previously revealed, and later, on things revealed in the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 126 126. Verse 17 But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat of it you will surely die. Taken with those that precede them, these words mean that it is allowable, by means of every perception obtained from the Lord, for anyone to discover what truth and good are, but it is not allowable to do so from self and the world, that is, to probe into mysteries of faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. If he does the celestial in him dies.

AC (Elliott) n. 127 127. Men’s desire to probe into mysteries of faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge was not only the cause of the downfall of the Most Ancient Church, that is to say, of its descendants – to be dealt with in the next chapter; it is also the cause of the downfall of every Church. For that desire leads not only to falsities but also to evils of life.

AC (Elliott) n. 128 128. The worldly and bodily-minded man says at heart, Unless I am taught about faith and about things that belong to faith by means of sensory evidence so that I see for myself, that is, by facts so that I understand for myself, I am not going to believe. And he confirms himself in this attitude from the consideration that natural phenomena cannot be at variance with spiritual. Consequently it is from sensory evidence that he wishes to learn about heavenly and Divine matters. But this is no more possible than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The more he wants by this method to become wise, the more he blinds himself, until in the end he believes nothing, not even in the existence of anything spiritual or in eternal life. This arises out of the basic assumption he makes. This is eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the more he eats of it, the more dead does he become. But the person who wishes to be made wise not from the world but from the Lord says at heart that he must believe the Lord, that is, those things the Lord has spoken in the Word, because they are truths. This is the basic assumption of his thinking. He confirms himself by means of rational, factual, sensory, and natural evidence. And things that are not confirmatory he sets aside.

AC (Elliott) n. 129 129. Anybody can recognize that the basic assumptions a person makes, even when completely false, govern him, and that all knowledge and reasoning buttress those assumptions. For countless flattering ideas occur to him to confirm him in falsities. Consequently when a person’s basic assumption is to believe nothing until he sees and understands it, he cannot possibly believe; for spiritual and celestial things are neither visible to the eyes nor comprehensible in mental images. But the true order is for a person to become wise from the Lord, that is, from His Word. In that case everything follows as it should, and he is also enlightened in matters of reason and of fact. Indeed nobody is forbidden to acquire knowledge, since it is useful for life and gives delight. And the person in whom faith resides is in no way forbidden to think and to talk as learned people in the world do. But he does so from the premise of belief in the Lord’s Word and of confirming spiritual and celestial truths by means of natural truths, using as far as is possible the terminology of the learned world. Consequently his premise must be the Lord, not self; the former is life, while the latter is death.

AC (Elliott) n. 130 130. The person who wishes to become wise from the world has for his ‘garden’ sensory evidence and factual knowledge. His ‘Eden’ is self-love and love of the world, his ‘east’ is the west or himself. His ‘river Euphrates’ is all his factual knowledge, which is condemned; his ‘second river’, where Asshur is, is his insane reasoning from which come falsities; his ‘third river’, where Cush is, is the resulting assumptions he makes consisting of evil and falsity, which are his cognitions of faith; his ‘fourth’ is the wisdom that results, which in the Word is called magic. This is why Egypt, which means knowledge, after it has become magical, means this kind of person, the reason being that he wants to become wise from self, as shown throughout the Word. Such people are described in Ezekiel as follows,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of his rivers, who said, My river is my own, and I have made myself. And the land of Egypt will be made into a desolation and a waste. And they will know that I am Jehovah. Moreover he has said, The river is mine, and I made it. Ezek. 29:3, 9.

People like this are also called in the same prophet where again Pharaoh or the Egyptian is the subject ‘the trees of Eden in hell’ as follows,

I will cause him to go down into hell with those going down into the pit. Whom have you become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world, in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those pierced by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his horde. Ezek. 31:16, 18.

Here ‘trees of Eden’ stands for facts and cognitions drawn from the Word which they profane in this manner by means of reasonings.

GENESIS 2:18-25

18 And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man* should be alone. I will make for him a help suitable for him.

19 And Jehovah God formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the air,** and He brought it to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called it, the living creature,*** that was its name.

20 And the man gave names to every beast, and to the birds of the air,** and to every wild animal of the field; but for man there was not found a help suitable for him.

21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he fell asleep; and He took one of his ribs, and He closed up the flesh in its place.

22 And Jehovah God built the rib which He took from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man.

23 And the man said, By this change, it is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; for this she will be called Wife, because she was taken out of man (vir).

24 Therefore a man (vir) will leave his father and his mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
* Unless otherwise indicated man in these verses 18-25 represents the Latin homo.
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
*** lit. the living soul

AC (Elliott) n. 131 131. CONTENTS

The subject is the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, who set their heart on the proprium.

AC (Elliott) n. 132 132. Man’s nature being such that he is not content to be guided by the Lord but desires also to be guided by self and the world – that is, from the proprium – the proprium that was granted to him is the subject now, verse 18.

AC (Elliott) n. 133 133. First of all he is given to know the affections for good and the cognitions of truth which the Lord has conferred on him. But still he sets his heart on this proprium, verses 19, 20.

AC (Elliott) n. 134 134. Once he has been brought into a state of the proprium therefore, a proprium is granted to him, which is described as his rib that was built into a woman, verses 21-23.

AC (Elliott) n. 135 135. Then it is told how celestial and spiritual life is joined to the proprium, so that this life and proprium appear to be one, verse 24.

AC (Elliott) n. 136 136. It is also told how the Lord introduced innocence into that proprium so that it might still be not unacceptable, verse 25.

AC (Elliott) n. 137 137. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The first three chapters of Genesis deal in general with the Most Ancient Church, which is called Man, from its earliest down to its final period when it perished. The foregoing section of this chapter dealt with it in its absolute prime when it was a celestial man. The present section deals with those people, and their descendants, who set their heart on the proprium.

AC (Elliott) n. 138 138. Verse 18 And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make for him a help suitable for him. ‘Alone’ means that he was not content to be guided by the Lord but desired to have self and the world as his guide. ‘A help suitable for him’ means the proprium, which, further on, is also called ‘the rib which was built into a woman’.

AC (Elliott) n. 139 139. In ancient times those who were guided as celestial people by the Lord were said ‘to dwell alone’, for the reason that evil forces, or evil spirits, were infesting them no longer. This was also represented in the Jewish Church by their dwelling alone after the nations had been driven out. For this reason several times in the Word the Lord’s Church is described as ‘alone’, as in Jeremiah,

Rise up, go up against a nation at ease that dwells securely. It has no gates or bars; they dwell alone. Jer. 49:31.

In the prophecy of Moses,

Israel dwelt securely, alone. Deut. 33:28.

And plainer still in Balaam’s prophecy,

See, a people, it dwells alone, and is not reckoned among the nations. Num. 23:9.

Here ‘nations’ stands for evils. These descendants of the Most Ancient Church did not wish to dwell alone; they did not wish to be a celestial man, that is, to be guided as a celestial man by the Lord, but to be among the nations, as also did the Jewish Church. And since this was what they desired it is said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone’. Indeed when this is what a person desires, he is already under the influence of evil, and his wish is granted.

AC (Elliott) n. 140 140. That ‘a help suitable for him’ means the proprium becomes clear from the nature of the proprium, and from what follows. But because the member of the Church dealt with here was inherently well-disposed, he was granted a proprium. But it [only] appeared to be his own, which is why it is called ‘a help suitable for him’.

AC (Elliott) n. 141 141. Countless things can be said about the proprium – about what the proprium is like in the case of the bodily-minded and worldly man, what it is like in the case of the spiritual man, and what in the case of the celestial man. With the bodily-minded and worldly man the proprium is his all. He is unaware of anything else but the proprium. And, as has been stated, if he were to lose his proprium he would think that he was dying. With the spiritual man the proprium takes on a similar appearance, for although he knows that the Lord is the life of all, and that He confers wisdom and intelligence, and consequently the ability to think and to act, it is more a matter of something he says and not so much something he believes. The celestial man however acknowledges that the Lord is the life of all, who confers the ability to think and act, because he perceives that this is so. Nor does he ever desire the proprium. Nevertheless even though he does not desire it the Lord grants him a proprium which is joined to him with a complete perception of what is good and true, and with complete happiness. Angels possess a proprium such as this, and at the same time utmost peace and tranquillity, for their proprium has within it things that are the Lord’s, who is governing their proprium, that is, governing them by means of their proprium. This proprium is utterly heavenly, whereas the proprium of the bodily-minded man is hellish. But more about the proprium further on.

AC (Elliott) n. 142 142. Verses 19, 20 And Jehovah God formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the air,* and He brought it to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called it, the living creature,** that was its name. And the man gave names to every beast, and to the birds of the air,* and to every wild animal of the field; but for man there was not found a help suitable for him.

‘Beasts’ means celestial affections, ‘birds of the air’*** spiritual ones; that is, ‘beasts’ means things that belong to the will, and ‘birds’ those that belong to the understanding. ‘Bringing them to the man to see what he would call them’ means enabling him to know their nature. ‘He gave them names means that he did recognize their nature. But even though he knew the nature of the affections for good and the cognitions of truth which the Lord had granted him, he still set his heart on the proprium, which is expressed in the same way as before – ‘there was not found a help suitable for him’.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
** lit. the living soul
*** lit. birds of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 143 143. Nowadays it may seem strange that ‘beasts’ and ‘animals’ in ancient times meant affections and similar things residing with man. But because people had heavenly ideas then, and because such things are also represented in the world of spirits by animals – by such animals in fact as resemble those affections – this alone is what they therefore understood when they spoke in this fashion. And this alone is what is meant in the Word whenever beasts are mentioned in general or in particular. The whole prophetical section of the Word is full of things such as these, and therefore anyone who does not know the particular meaning of any beast cannot possibly understand what the Word contains in the internal sense. But as slated already, there are two kinds of beasts – evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are harmless. Good beasts, such as sheep, lambs, and doves, mean good affections. Here, because the subject is the celestial man, or the celestial-spiritual man, the same applies. The fact that ‘beasts’ in general means affections has been confirmed from several places in the Word quoted already in 45, 46. So there is no need of further confirmation.

AC (Elliott) n. 144 144. As to ‘calling by name’ meaning recognizing their nature, it must be realized that the ancients understood nothing else by ‘a name than the essential nature of a real thing, and by ‘seeing and calling them by name’ recognizing the nature of such. This was why they gave their sons and daughters names in keeping with the things that were meant by them; for there was something unique to every name, as a means of knowing the origin and nature of those children, as will also be seen later on where, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, the twelve sons of Jacob are dealt with. Since therefore a name embodied a person’s origin and nature nothing else was meant by ‘calling by name’. This manner of speaking was customary among them; but anyone who does not understand is sure to wonder whether they do have these meanings.

AC (Elliott) n. 145 145. In the Word too ‘name’ means the essential nature of a real thing, and ‘seeing and calling by name’ knowing characters, as in Isaiah,

I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoarded riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Jehovah, the one calling you by name, the God of Israel. For the sake of My servant Jacob, and of Israel My chosen, and I have called you by name, I have surnamed you, but you do not know Me. Isa. 45:3, 4.

Here ‘calling by name’ and ‘surnaming’ mean knowing his character beforehand. In the same prophet,

You will be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will declare. Isa. 62:2.

This stands for his becoming a different person, as is clear from what precedes and what follows these words. In the same prophet,

O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are Mine. Isa. 43:1.

This stands for knowing character. Again in the same prophet,

Lift up your eyes on high and see; who created these? He who brings out their host by number; He will call them all by name. Isa. 40:26.

This stands for His knowing them all. In Revelation,

You have a few names in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments. He who conquers will be clad in white garments and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Rev. 3:4, 5.

Elsewhere in the same book,

Whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb. Rev. 13:8.

In these places ‘names’ is in no way used to mean names but people’s characters. Nor in heaven do they know anyone’s name, only his character.

AC (Elliott) n. 146 146. These considerations make plain the connection between the things that are meant. Verse 18 said that ‘it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make for him a help suitable for him’, and directly after that beasts and birds are mentioned even though they have been dealt with already. Immediately after this the statement is repeated that ‘for man there was not found a help suitable for him’, meaning that when he had been made aware of what he was in character as regards affections for good and cognitions of truth he still had his heart set on the proprium. In fact, people such as desire the proprium begin to despise those things that are the Lord’s, no matter how well they are represented and shown to them.

AC (Elliott) n. 147 147. Verse 21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he fell asleep; and He took one of his ribs, and He closed up the flesh in its place.

‘A rib’, which is a breast bone, is used to mean man’s proprium when it contains very little life, a proprium indeed that he cherishes. ‘The flesh in place of the rib’ is used to mean the proprium when it does contain some life. ‘A deep sleep’ is used to mean that state into which he was brought so that he might seem to himself to have a proprium. This state resembles sleep because a person in that state is conscious only of living, thinking, speaking, and acting from himself. But when he starts to realize that this is false, he is aroused from sleep so to speak and wakes up.

AC (Elliott) n. 148 148. The reason man’s proprium – a proprium indeed that he cherishes – is called a rib, which is a breast bone, is that among the most ancient people the breast meant charity, for it has the heart and lungs within it, and bones meant those things that were less valuable because they contain only a very small amount of life. ‘Flesh’ however meant that which did possess some life. The reason why they had this meaning is a very deep arcanum known to the most ancient people, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 149 149. In the Word also ‘bones’ means the proprium, a proprium indeed given life by the Lord, as in Isaiah, Jehovah will satisfy your soul in arid places, and will render your bones free; and you will be like a watered garden. Isa. 58:11.

In the same prophet,

Then you will see, and your heart will be joyful, and your bones will flourish like the grass. Isa. 66:14.

In David,

All my bones will say, O Jehovah, who is like You? Ps. 35:10.

This is plainer still in Ezekiel where he describes the bones receiving flesh and having spirit put in them,

The hand of Jehovah set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. And He said to me, Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovih to these bones, Behold, I am bringing spirit* into you and you will live. And I will lay sinews upon you and cause flesh to come over you and cover you with skin, and I will put spirit you, and you will live; and you will know that I am Jehovah. Ezek. 37:1, 4-6.

[2] Man’s proprium when viewed from heaven looks just like something bony, lifeless, and utterly misshapen, and so in itself something dead. But once it has received life from the Lord it appears as something having flesh. For man’s proprium is something altogether dead, though it has the appearance to him of being something; indeed it appears to be everything. Whatever is living within him comes from the Lord’s life; and if this were to leave him, he would fall down dead as a stone. For he is purely an organ of life, though the nature of the organ determines that of the life-affection. The Lord alone possesses Proprium. By His Proprium He has redeemed man and by His Proprium saves him. The Lord’s Proprium is Life, and from His Proprium man’s proprium, which in itself is dead, is given life. The Lord’s Proprium was also meant by His words in Luke,

A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have. Luke 24:39, 40.

It was also meant by the requirement that no bone of the Paschal lamb be broken, Exod 12:46.
* or breath

AC (Elliott) n. 150 150. The state of a person when caught up in the proprium, that is, when he imagines that he lives from himself, is compared to a deep sleep. Indeed the ancients actually called it ‘a deep sleep’ while the Word speaks of people having ‘the spirit of deep sleep poured out on them,* and of their sleeping a perpetual sleep.** The fact that man’s proprium is in itself dead, that is, that nobody possesses any life from himself, has been demonstrated in the world of spirits so completely that evil spirits who love nothing except the proprium, and insist stubbornly that they do live from themselves, have been convinced by means of living experience, and have admitted that they do not live from themselves. With regard to the human proprium I have for several years now been given a unique opportunity to know about it – in particular that not a trace of my thinking began in myself. I have also been allowed to perceive clearly that every idea constituting my thought flowed in [from somewhere], and sometimes how it flowed in, and where from. Consequently anyone who imagines that he lives from himself is in error. And in believing that he does live from himself he takes to himself everything evil and false, which he would never do if what he believed and what is actually the case were in agreement.
* Isaiah 29:10
** Jeremiah 51:57

AC (Elliott) n. 151 151. Verse 22 And Jehovah God built the rib which He took from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man.

‘Building means reconstructing that which has fallen down, ‘rib’ the proprium that has not been given life, ‘woman the proprium that has been given life by the Lord, ‘bringing her to the man’ that a proprium was granted to him. Since the descendants of this Church, unlike their ancestors, did not wish to be the celestial man, but to be their own guides and so set their heart on the proprium, they were allowed to have one. It was however a proprium given life by the Lord, which is why it is called ‘a woman’, and after that ‘a wife’.

AC (Elliott) n. 152 152. Anyone paying the matter only scant attention may see that woman was not formed out of the rib of a man, and that the arcana embodied here are deeper than anybody has ever been aware of up to now. And that the proprium is meant by ‘the woman may be seen from the consideration that the woman was the one who was deceived, for nothing but the proprium – or what amounts to the same, self-love and love of the world – ever deceives a person.

AC (Elliott) n. 153 153. It is said that the rib was built into a woman, and not as previously, when regeneration was the subject, that the woman was created, or formed, or made. The word ‘built’ is used because building means reconstructing that which has fallen down. This is how it is used in the Word, where ‘building’ has reference to evils, ‘raising up’ to falsities, and ‘renewing’ to both, as in Isaiah,

They will build up the waste places of old, they will raise up the former desolations, and they will renew the waste cities, the desolations of generation upon generation. Isa. 61:4.

‘Waste places’ here and elsewhere stands for evils, ‘desolations’ for falsities. The expression ‘to build’ is applied to the former, ‘to raise up’ to the latter, and this distinction is also carefully observed in other places in the Prophets: in Jeremiah,

Again I will build you, that you may be built, O virgin of Israel. Jer 31:4.

AC (Elliott) n. 154 154. Nothing evil or false can possibly exist that is not the proprium or derived from the proprium. For man’s proprium is evil itself, which means that man is nothing but evil and falsity. This has become clear to me from the fact that when the contents of the proprium are presented to view in the world of spirits they look so ugly that nobody can paint any uglier picture. (Those contents vary however according to the nature of the proprium.) As a result when anyone is offered a glimpse of the contents of his proprium he is horrified at himself and wishes to run as though from the devil. On the other hand contents of the proprium which have been given life by the Lord look beautiful and attractive, varying according to the life to which a celestial quality that is the Lord’s can be added. Indeed people who have received charity, that is, been made alive by it, look like boys and girls with very attractive faces. And people who have received innocence look like naked small children adorned in different ways with garlands of flowers twined around their breasts, and precious stones in their hair, living and playing in brightest light, with a sense of happiness stemming from the depths of their being.

AC (Elliott) n. 155 155. These words, ‘a rib was built into a woman’, conceal, inmostly, more than anyone can possibly know from the letter. For the Word of the Lord is such that inmostly it focuses on the Lord Himself and His kingdom. This is the source of a11 the life of the Word. Here likewise it is the heavenly marriage that is focused inmostly. Such is the nature of the heavenly marriage that it exists within the proprium, and such is its nature that a proprium given life by the Lord is called the Lord’s Bride, and also Wife. The proprium given life in this way by the Lord is enabled to perceive every good that stems from love, and every truth of faith. It therefore possesses all wisdom and intelligence coupled with an indescribable happiness.

[2] But the nature of this proprium – the Lord’s Bride and Wife – that has been given life cannot be described in a few words. Let just this be said, that angels perceive that they live from the Lord, and yet when not reflecting on the matter they have no other idea than that they live from themselves. But there is a universal affection by which they sense that a change has taken place when they retreat only slightly from the good that stems from love, or from the truth of faith. Consequently they experience a peace and happiness that is indescribable when the general perception exists with them that they live from the Lord. It is this proprium too that is meant in Jeremiah, where it is said,

Jehovah has created a new thing on the earth, a woman will surround a man. Jer. 31:12.

It is the heavenly marriage that is meant in this quotation too, the ‘woman’ meaning the proprium given life by the Lord. The woman is said ‘to surround’, because the proprium by nature surrounds, just as a rib made flesh surrounds the heart.

AC (Elliott) n. 156 156. Verse 23 And the man said, By this change, it is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; for this she will be called Wife, because she was taken out of man (vir).

‘Bone from bones and flesh from flesh’ means the proprium belonging to the external man, ‘bone’ the proprium that has been given not much life, ‘flesh’ the proprium that has been given life. ‘The man’ (vir) however means the internal man. And because, as is said in the next verse, the internal man was so coupled to the external man, this proprium previously called ‘woman’ is now called ‘Wife’. ‘By this change’ means that it happened now, because there had been a change of state.

AC (Elliott) n. 157 157. Because ‘bone from bones and flesh from flesh’ meant the proprium belonging to the external man which contained the internal man, all who could be called one’ s own were in ancient times called ‘bone from bones and flesh from flesh’, whether they came from the same house or from the same family, or had some other family connection, as Laban said of Jacob,

Surely you are my bone and my flesh. Gen. 29:14.

Referring to his mother’s brothers and to ‘the family of the house of his mother’s father’ Abimelech said,

Remember that I am your bone and your flesh. Judg. 9:1-3.

Also the tribes of Israel, in reference to themselves, told David,

Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. 2 Sam. 5:1.

AC (Elliott) n. 158 158. That ‘man’ (vir) means the internal man, or what amounts to the same, one who is intelligent and wise, is clear in Isaiah,

I look, and there is no man, and from these there is no counsellor. Isa. 41:18.

[‘No man’] stands for no wise and intelligent person. In Jeremiah,

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see if you find a man, if anyone is executing judgement and seeking truth. Jer. 5:1.

‘Executing judgement’ stands for being wise, and ‘seeking truth’ for having intelligence.

AC (Elliott) n. 159 159. It is not easy to perceive however how these matters can be so unless the nature of the state of the celestial man is known. The state of the celestial man is such that the internal man is quite distinct from the external, so distinct in fact that he perceives what belongs to the internal man and what to the external man, and how the external man is governed by the Lord through the internal. But because his descendants desired the proprium, which belongs to the external man, their state became so altered that they no longer perceived any distinction between the internal man and the external. Instead they perceived the internal man as being one with the external, for this is what perception comes to be once man desires the proprium.

AC (Elliott) n. 160 160. Verse 24 Therefore a man (vir) will leave his father and his mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh.

‘Leaving father and mother’ is leaving the internal man, for the internal is that which conceives and gives birth to the external. ‘Clinging to his wife’ is in order that the internal man may be within the external. ‘Being one flesh’ means that they are there together. Previously the internal man, and the external man deriving from the internal, were spirit, but now they have become flesh. In this way celestial and spiritual life was joined on to the proprium in order that they might seemingly be one.

AC (Elliott) n. 161 161. These descendants of the Most Ancient Church were not evil; they were still good people. And since they desired to live in the external man or proprium, the Lord did allow it; but He mercifully instilled something celestial-spiritual. How the internal and external act as one, or how they appear to be one, cannot be known unless it is known how one flows into the other. To gain some idea of this, take, for example, an action. Unless charity, or love and faith, lies within it, and the Lord within these, the action is not an action that can be called a work of charity or the fruit of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 162 162. All the laws of truth and right stem from celestial sources, that is, from the order of life as it exists with the celestial man; for the whole of heaven is the celestial man, because the Lord alone is the Celestial Man and the All of every single thing in heaven and in the celestial man. This is why they are called celestial. Since every law of truth and right comes down from heavenly sources, that is, from the order of life as it exists with the celestial man – above all the law that concerns marriages – the heavenly marriage ought to be the source of and pattern for all marriages on earth. This marriage consists of one Lord and one heaven, or one Church whose head is the Lord. The consequent law for marriages is that there must be one man (vir) and one wife. When this is the case they represent the heavenly marriage, and area model of the celestial man. This law was not merely revealed to men (vir) of the Most Ancient Church, but was also inscribed on their internal man. Consequently a man (vir) in those times had but one wife, and they formed one house. But when their descendants fell away from being internal men and became external they began to marry several wives.

[2] Because the men (vir) of the Most Ancient Church by their marriages represented the heavenly marriage, conjugial love was to them like heaven and heavenly happiness. But when that Church went into decline they no longer perceived any happiness in conjugial love, but only in the pleasure obtained from having several wives, which is characteristic of the external man. This the Lord calls ‘hardness of heart’, on account of which Moses allowed them to marry several wives, as the Lord Himself teaches,

On account of your hardness of heart Moses wrote you this commandment, but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason man (homo) will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two will be as one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together man (homo) must not put asunder. Mark 10:5-9.

AC (Elliott) n. 163 163. Verse 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. ‘They were naked and they were not ashamed’ means that they were innocent. To be exact, the Lord had instilled innocence into their proprium to keep it from being unacceptable.

AC (Elliott) n. 164 164. As has been stated, man’s proprium is nothing but evil, and when presented to view is terribly ugly; but when charity and innocence are instilled into the proprium by the Lord it looks fine and attractive, as stated in 154. The charity and innocence not only excuse the proprium, that is, a person’s evil and falsity, but also virtually do away with it, as anyone may see in the case of young children. When they love one another and their parents, and at the same time a childlike innocence is evident, evil and false traits at such times not only go unnoticed but are even pleasing. From this it can be seen that nobody is allowed into heaven unless he has some measure of innocence in him, as the Lord said,

Let the young children come to Me and do not hinder them; of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever has not received the kingdom of God like a young child will not enter into it. Taking them up therefore into His arms, He laid His hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10:14-16.

AC (Elliott) n. 165 165. The nakedness of which they were not ashamed means innocence. This is quite clear from what follows. When integrity and innocence left them they were then ashamed of their nakedness, and it seemed disgraceful to them, and so they hid themselves. It is additionally clear from the things represented in the world of spirits that the nakedness of which they were not ashamed means innocence. Indeed when spirits wish to exonerate themselves and prove that they are blameless they present themselves naked to witness their innocence. This is particularly clear with the innocent in heaven, who look like young children, naked, and wearing garlands round them that accord with their particular variety of innocence. But those who do not possess so much innocence appear clothed in splendid and shining clothes – you might call them brightest silk – like angels when seen from time to time by the prophets.

AC (Elliott) n. 166 166. Presented above are things which the Word contains in this chapter. Yet those which have been uncovered are few. And since the subject is the celestial man, whom scarcely anyone knows of nowadays, these few things are bound to seem obscure to some people.

AC (Elliott) n. 167 167. But if anyone knew how many arcana each particular verse contains, he would be astounded. Each one contains so many arcana that they cannot possibly be numbered off. Yet this is barely evident at all from the letter. In short, the words of the letter, just as they are, are represented vividly in the world of spirits in wonderful array. For the world of spirits is a representative world, and whatever is represented vividly is perceived by angelic spirits in the second heaven even as to the minor details within those representatives. And the things perceived by angelic spirits in this way angels in the third heaven perceive abundantly and fully in inexpressible angelic ideas. In accordance with the Lord’s Good Pleasure, they perceive them in complete and boundless variety. Such is the Word of the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 168 168. MAN’S AWAKENING FROM THE DEAD, AND HIS ENTRY INTO ETERNAL LIFE

Since I am being allowed, as mentioned already,* to make known step by step how someone passes from the life of the body into that of eternity, and so that it might be known how a person is awakened, I have been shown not by hearing but by actual experience.
*i.e. in 70

AC (Elliott) n. 169 169. I was brought into a state where my physical senses were rendered insensible, that is, into the state almost of people who are dying, but with my interior life, together with my ability to think, remaining intact. This was done so that I might perceive and retain in the memory what happens to people who have died and are being awakened, with enough breathing to support life, and after that with a soundless breathing.*
* See 607, 1118ff

AC (Elliott) n. 170 170. Celestial angels were present occupying the providence of the heart, so that at heart I seemed to be united to them – so united that at length scarcely anything of myself was left apart from thought and resulting perception. This lasted for several hours.

AC (Elliott) n. 171 171. In this way my communication with spirits in the world of spirits, who supposed that I had departed the life of the body, was broken off.

AC (Elliott) n. 172 172. In addition to the celestial angels who were occupying the province of the heart, two angels were also sitting at my head, and I perceived that this happens to everyone.

AC (Elliott) n. 173 173. The angels sitting at my head were completely silent, communicating their thoughts by facial expressions only. From this I perceived that a different face was as it were superimposed over my own, two faces in fact, since there were two angels. When the angels perceive that their own faces are being received they know that the person has died.

AC (Elliott) n. 174 174. After they had recognized their own faces, they produced certain changes around the region of the mouth, and in that manner communicated their own thoughts to me; for it is normal for celestial angels to speak by means of the mouth. This enabled me to perceive their non-verbal expression of thought.

AC (Elliott) n. 175 175. I began to notice a fragrant odour like that of a corpse that has been embalmed, for when celestial angels are present, anything to do with a corpse smells like something fragrant. But when evil spirits smell it they are unable to go nearer.

AC (Elliott) n. 176 176. Meanwhile in the province of the heart I was being kept firmly united to the celestial angels, which I perceived and also felt in my heartbeat.

AC (Elliott) n. 177 177. It was instilled into my mind that the angels maintain whatever religious and holy thoughts a person is having at the moment of death. It was also instilled that people who are dying are normally thinking about eternal life and hardly at all about physical health and happiness. The angels therefore uphold them in the thought of eternal life.

AC (Elliott) n. 178 178. The celestial angels keep them in this thought for quite a while before withdrawing and giving way to spiritual angels who accompany them next. During all this, they suppose, though dimly, that they are still living in the body.

AC (Elliott) n. 179 179. As soon as the interior parts of the body start to grow cold, the vital substances are separated from the person, wherever these may be, even if enclosed in a thousand complicated entanglements. For the effectiveness of the Lord’s mercy, which I had already experienced as a living power of attraction, is so great that nothing vital can remain behind.

AC (Elliott) n. 180 180. The celestial angels who were sitting at my head were with me for a considerable time after I had so to speak been awakened. When they spoke they did not do so vocally. From their non-verbal expression of thought I perceived that they set all fallacies and falsities at nought, smiling at them indeed not as matters of derision but as if they were not at all interested in them. Their speech is thought that is not verbalized, and is the speech which they start to use with souls whom they are the first to be present with.

AC (Elliott) n. 181 181. Up to now the person who has been awakened in this way by celestial angels is in a dim kind of life. When the time comes for him to be handed over to spiritual angels, there is an interval between the arrival of the spiritual angels and the departure of the celestial. I have also been shown how the spiritual angels work so that a person may gain the benefit of light. For the continuation of this subject see the preliminary section to the next chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 182 182. THE ENTRY INTO ETERNAL LIFE OF ONE WHO HAS BEEN AWAKENED – continued

Once celestial angels are present with a person who has been awakened they do not leave him, for they love everybody. But when a soul is such as cannot bear to be with celestial angels any longer, he longs to get away from them. When this happens spiritual angels arrive who provide him with the benefit of light, for up to that point he has not been spectator to anything but merely engaged in thought.

AC (Elliott) n. 183 183. I have been shown the way in which these angels function. To open the eye and grant the benefit of light, they seemed to roll away towards the septum of the nose the surface tissues of the left eye. The person himself perceives this altogether as an actual occurrence, but in fact it is an appearance.

AC (Elliott) n. 184 184. Once that small membrane of the eye has been rolled away a kind of light appears, though dim, similar to the light which someone sees through the eyelids when first waking up. And he is experiencing a state of calm, for the celestial angels are still protecting him. At the same time a kind of twilight descends, the colour of the sky when one small star is showing. But I have noticed variations in this phenomenon.

AC (Elliott) n. 185 185. After this it seems as if something is gently rolled away from the face, and perception is imparted to that person. While this is happening the angels act with utmost care to prevent any idea coming from him except one that is gentle, that is, expressive of love. Then he is enabled to realize that he is a spirit.

AC (Elliott) n. 186 186. At this point his life begins. At first it is happy and joyful, for he is conscious of having entered into eternal life. This is represented by a white light turning into a lovely shade of yellow, which symbolizes his initial life, that is to say, that it is celestial as well as spiritual.

AC (Elliott) n. 187 187. His being received after this into a community of good spirits is represented by a youth seated on a horse which he is pointing in the direction of hell. But the horse cannot take a single step. The person is represented as a youth because he is among angels the moment he enters into eternal life, and so it seems to him as though he is in the bloom of youth.

AC (Elliott) n. 188 188. The next stage of his life is represented by his dismounting from the horse and going on foot, because he is unable to get the horse to move. Then it is instilled into him that he is to be furnished with cognitions of truth and good.

AC (Elliott) n. 189 189. After this he sees paths gently sloping upwards. These mean that he is to be led to heaven little by little, by means of cognitions of truth and good and by self-acknowledgement. For without self-acknowledgement and without cognitions of truth and good, nobody can be brought to that place. For a continuation of the subject, see the end of this chapter.

GENESIS 3:1-13

1 And the serpent was subtle, more than every wild animal of the field that Jehovah God had made. And it said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit from the tree of the garden we are to eat.

3 But of the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden God has said, You shall not eat of it nor touch it, or else you will die.

4 And the serpent said to the woman, You will certainly not die.

5 For God knows that on the day in which you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appetizing to the eyes, and a tree desirable for imparting intelligence; and she took from its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.

8 And they heard Jehovah God’s voice going to and fro in the garden in the breeze of the daytime; and the man hid himself, and so did his wife, from the face of Jehovah God, in the middle of the tree of the garden.

9 And Jehovah God called out to the man and said to him, Where are you?

10 And he said, I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And He said, Who pointed out to you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree concerning which I commanded you that you should not eat from it?

12 And the man said, The woman whom You gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.

13 And Jehovah God said to the woman, Why have you done this? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

AC (Elliott) n. 190 190. CONTENTS
The subject is the third state of the Most Ancient Church, which set their heart on the proprium, even to the point of loving it.

AC (Elliott) n. 191 191. Because at this time, by reason of their self-love or very own love, they were beginning not to believe anything which they did not apprehend through their physical senses, the sensory part is represented by the serpent, self-love or very own love by the woman, and the rational by the man (vir).

AC (Elliott) n. 192 192. Consequently the serpent, which is the sensory part, persuaded the woman to probe into matters of faith in the Lord to see whether they were so. This is meant by eating from the tree of knowledge, and the fact that the rational of the member of the Church conceded is meant by the man (vir) eating, verses 1-6.

AC (Elliott) n. 193 193. But they perceived that they were under the influence of evil. From the residue of perception left to them, which is meant by the statements about their eyes being opened and their hearing the voice of Jehovah, verses 7, 8, and from the fig leaves with which they made themselves girdles, verse 7; also from their sense of shame or hiding themselves in the middle of the tree of the garden, verses 8, 9, as well as from their acknowledgement and confession, verses 10-13 it is evident that natural goodness remained with them.

AC (Elliott) n. 194 194. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verse I And the serpent was subtle, more than every wild animal of the field that Jehovah God had made. And it said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

‘The serpent is here used to mean man’s sensory perception in which he trusts. ‘Wild animal of the field’ here, as previously, means every affection that belongs to the external man. ‘Woman’ means the proprium. ‘The serpent said, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree’ means that for the first time they entertained doubts. The subject is the third generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, which began not to believe matters of revelation unless they could see the import of these with their eyes and apprehend them with the senses. Their first state is described in this verse and the next as being a state of doubting.

AC (Elliott) n. 195 195. The most ancient people did not compare all things in man to beasts and birds but actually called them such. This was their manner of speaking, which also remained throughout in the Ancient Church after the Flood; and a similar manner of speaking was preserved among the Prophets. Man’s sensory powers they called serpents, for just as serpents are next to the ground so do the sensory powers come next to the body. Consequently reasonings based on sensory evidence concerning mysteries of faith they called serpent-poisons, and those who reasoned in that way they called serpents. And it is their basing reasonings so much on sensory evidence – that is, on visual, as is the evidence of earthly, bodily, worldly, and natural objects – that is the reason for the statement ‘the serpent was subtle, more than every wild animal of the field’.

[2] A similar usage occurs in David,

They make their tongue sharp, like a serpent. Under their lips is the poison of an asp. Ps 140:3-5.

This refers to people who mislead a person by means of reasonings. In the same author,

They go astray even from the womb, in uttering what is untrue; their poison is like serpent’s poison; they are like the poisonous deaf-adder which stops up its ear to the sound of those whispering [to it], of the wise one who belongs to the fraternity [of charmers]. Ps. 58:3-5.

Reasonings whose nature is such that those who resort to them do not even hear that which is wise, that is, do not hear ‘the sound of the wise one’, are here called ‘serpent’s poison’. This was the origin of the popular saying with the ancients about ‘the serpent stopping its ear’. In Amos,

As if someone went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, and thick darkness, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:19, 20.

‘His hand against the wall’ stands for power that is one’s own and trust in sensory evidence, which results in the benightedness described here.

[3] In Jeremiah,

The sound of Egypt will go forth like a serpent, for [her enemies] will go forth in force, and they will come to her with axes, like woodcutters. Let them cut down her forest, says Jehovah, for it will not be explored; they are more numerous than locusts, they are without number. The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she will be given into the hand of a people from the north. Jer. 46:20, 22-24.

‘Egypt’ stands for reasoning about Divine matters that is based on sensory evidence and factual knowledge. Reasonings are called ‘the sound of a serpent’, and the benightedness that results is meant by ‘a people from the north’. In Job,

He will suck the poison of asps, the tongue of a viper will kill him; he will not see the brooks, the streams flowing with honey and butter. Job 20:16, 17.

‘Streams of honey and butter’ are spiritual and celestial things, which reasoners will not see. Reasonings are called ‘the poison of asps and ‘the tongue of a viper’. For more concerning the serpent, see at verses 14, 15, below.

AC (Elliott) n. 196 196. In ancient times people who relied on sensory evidence rather than matters of revelation were called serpents. Nowadays the position is even worse, for not only are there people who believe nothing unless they can see it with their eyes and apprehend it with their senses, there are also those who confirm themselves in that attitude by means of facts unknown to the most ancient people, and who in so doing blind themselves very much more. To make known how people who draw conclusions about heavenly things on the basis of sensory evidence, facts, and philosophical arguments, so blind themselves that they subsequently see and hear absolutely nothing, and who are not only the deaf serpents but also the far more deadly flying serpents, mentioned in the Word as well, let their belief concerning the spirit serve as an example.

[2] Anybody who is sensory-minded, that is, whose belief is rooted solely in the senses, denies the existence of the spirit because he does not see it. He says, ‘Because I do not feel it, it is nothing; what I see and touch, I know to exist’. Anybody who is factually-minded, that is, who bases his conclusions on factual knowledge, says, ‘What is the spirit but perhaps breath, or vital heat, or something else known to me, which is dissipated when it comes to an end? Do not animals as well have a body, and senses, and something analogous to reason? Yet people say that animals are destined to die but man’s spirit to live.’ In this way they deny the existence of the spirit. Philosophers, men wishing to be more incisive than everybody else, speak of the spirit in terms which they themselves are not clear about since they argue about them. They contend that not a single expression is applicable which in any way derives from what is material, organic, or spatial. In this way they dismiss the spirit from their ideas, and as a result it passes from their notice and becomes nothing at all.

[3] Those among them however who are more sensible say that the spirit is thought, but when they begin to reason about thought they at length conclude, since they separate thought from substance, that it will disappear when the body breathes its last. In this way everyone who reasons on the basis of sensory evidence, facts, and philosophical arguments denies the existence of the spirit, and in denying its existence never believes anything that is said about the spirit or about spiritual things. But if indeed the simple in heart are questioned they say that they know that the spirit exists because the Lord has said that they will live after death. Instead of smothering their rationality they nurture it by means of the Word of the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 197 197. With the most ancient people, who were celestial, a serpent meant being completely watchful, and so also meant their sensory perception by means of which they were to show vigilance to avoid being harmed by the evil. This is clear from the Lord’s words to His disciples,

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. Matt. 10:16.

And also ‘the bronze serpent’ which was raised up in the wilderness and which meant the Lord’s Sensory Perception. He alone is Celestial Man, and He alone is completely watchful and provides for everybody. Whoever beheld it therefore was delivered.

AC (Elliott) n. 198 198. Verses 2, 3 And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit from the tree of the garden we are to eat; but of the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden God has said, You shall not eat of it nor touch it, or else you will die. ‘The fruit from the tree of the garden’ is the good and truth revealed to them from the Most Ancient Church. ‘The fruit from the tree which was in the middle of the garden, of which they were not to eat’ is the good and truth of faith, which they were forbidden to learn from themselves. ‘Not to touch it’ means that they were forbidden to think about the good and truth of faith from themselves, that is, from sensory perception and factual knowledge. ‘Or else they would die’ means that faith, that is, all wisdom and intelligence, would in this way perish.

AC (Elliott) n. 199 199. The fruit from the tree from which they were allowed to eat means the good and truth of faith, that is, the cognitions of faith, revealed to them from the Most Ancient Church. This becomes clear from the fact that reference is made to ‘the fruit from the tree of the garden’ from which they were to eat, and not merely, as previously in 2:16 where the subject was the celestial man or Most Ancient Church, ‘from the tree of the garden’. As was stated at that point, the tree of the garden means perception, that is, the perception of good and truth. And because this good and truth are the product, it is here called fruit, as is also the meaning of ‘fruit’ many times in the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 200 200. The reason the tree of knowledge is now said to be in the middle of the garden, whereas previously in 2:9 the tree of life* is said to be in the middle of the garden, and not the tree of knowledge, is that ‘the middle of the garden’ means that which is inmost. And the inmost of the celestial man, or Most Ancient Church, was the tree of life,* which was love and faith deriving from it. But the middle of the garden, or that which was the inmost of this next generation, that is, of the man who may be called celestial-spiritual, was faith. No further description is possible, for the character of the people who lived in those most ancient times is totally unknown at the present day. Their disposition was entirely different from that which is at all possible with anyone today. To convey some intelligible idea of that disposition, let the point be considered that it was from good that they came to know truth, that is, from love they came to know anything of faith. But when that generation died out another took its place whose disposition was entirely different. That is to say, the new generation did not from good come to know truth, or from love come to know the things of faith, but instead had from truth a knowledge of good, that is, had from the things constituting the cognitions of faith a knowledge of those of love; and with the majority it was scarcely anything more than knowledge. Such was the change which took place after the Flood to prevent the destruction of the world.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 201 201. Since therefore the kind of disposition which the most ancient people had before the Flood does not occur and is not found nowadays, it is difficult to explain intelligibly what the words here embody in the genuine sense. In heaven it is very well known, for angels and angelic spirits who are called celestial are by disposition like those regenerate people of most ancient times before the Flood, while angels and angelic spirits who are called spiritual art by disposition like those people who were regenerated after the Flood. Among both types there is endless variety.

AC (Elliott) n. 202 202. The Most Ancient Church, which was celestial man, was not only forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge, that is, to learn that which comprised faith from sensory evidence and from facts; it was not even allowed ‘to touch that tree’, that is, even to think from sensory evidence and from facts about anything that was a matter of faith. This was to prevent them slumping from celestial to spiritual life, and in this way going down further still. The life of celestial angels is also the same. Those of them who are more interiorly celestial do not even allow faith to be mentioned or anything whatever which has a spiritual origin. If others mention it they perceive love instead of faith, with a difference known only to themselves. Thus anything that is a matter of faith they derive from love and charity. Still less do they allow themselves to listen to anything of a rational nature concerning faith, and least of all to anything of a factual nature; for they possess from the Lord by way of love a perception of what good and truth are. From perception they know instantly whether something is so or not so. Consequently when any statement about faith is made their response is either That is so, or That is not so, for they are perceiving from the Lord. This is what the Lord’s words mean in Matthew,

Let your words be, YES, YES, NO, NO; anything beyond this is from evil.* Matt. 5:37.

The present verse in Genesis says that they were not allowed even to touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge, for if they did touch it, they would be subject to evil, that is, they would consequently die. All the same, celestial angels, like others, discuss various matters among themselves, but they do so in celestial language that is formed by, and derived from, love, a language that is more indescribable than the language of spiritual angels.
* or from the evil one

AC (Elliott) n. 203 203. Spiritual angels however do discuss faith; they even confirm matters of faith by means of intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and factual knowledge. But they never use these as a means to arrive at a conclusion concerning faith. Those who do that are under the influence of evil. For spiritual angels also have from the Lord a perception of everything that is a matter of faith, but the nature of their perception is not the same as that of celestial angels. The perception that spiritual angels have is a measure of conscience vitalized by the Lord. It seems like celestial perception, but it is merely spiritual perception and not celestial.

AC (Elliott) n. 204 204. Verses 4, 5 And the serpent said to the woman, You will certainly not die. For God knows that on the day in which you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

‘If they ate from the fruit of the tree their eyes would be opened’ means that if they did probe into matters of faith from sensory perception and factual knowledge, that is, from themselves, they would see plainly that it was not so. ‘They would be like God, knowing good and evil’ means that if they did so from themselves they would be like God and could be their own guides.

AC (Elliott) n. 205 205. The content of each single verse has to do with a particular state or else change of state within the Church. The initial verses describe how they still perceived that such a course of action was forbidden even though they had an inclination towards it. The two present verses describe how they began to doubt whether it was forbidden them, since they would in that way see whether the things they had heard from the people of earliest times were true, and in that way their eyes would be opened. These two verses finally describe how, since self-love began to reign with them, they were able to be their own guides and so be like the Lord. It is characteristic of self-love that people do not wish to be led from the Lord but from themselves. And when this is so people rely in matters of belief on sensory evidence and factual knowledge.

AC (Elliott) n. 206 206. Who are more convinced that they have had their eyes opened and that like God they know what good and evil are than people who love themselves and who at the same time possess worldly learning? Yet is anyone more blind than they are? Merely question them and it will be seen that they do not even know about, let alone believe in, the existence of the spirit. What spiritual and celestial life are, they do not know at all. Nor do they acknowledge the reality of eternal life, for they believe that when they die they will, like animals, cease to exist. The Lord they do not acknowledge at all; they worship themselves and nature solely. Those who wish to be more guarded in what they say speak of a Supreme Being ruling over everything, but do not know what that Being is.

[2] These are their basic assumptions which they confirm in a multitude of ways by means of sensory evidence and of facts which they have at their command. If they dared, they would even do it for all the world to see. Although such people wish to be acknowledged as gods, that is, as sages, they would reply, if asked whether they knew what having no proprium was, that it was having no being, and if deprived of proprium that they would be nothing. If asked what living from the Lord was, they would consider it to be a set of delusions. If questioned whether they knew what conscience was, they would say it is purely a figment of the imagination which can be of service in keeping the common people under control. If questioned whether they knew what perception was, they would do no more than laugh and call it some kind of emotionalism. This is the kind of wisdom they possess; these are the kind of opened eyes they have; and these are the kind of gods they are. Starting from assumptions such as these, which they imagine to be clear as daylight, they go further and in this way reason about mysteries of faith. And what can the outcome be but abysmal thick darkness? More than anybody else these are serpents who mislead the world. But this was not yet the nature of these descendants of the Most Ancient Church. Verses 14-19 Of this chapter deal with them when they had reached that point.

AC (Elliott) n. 207 207. Verse 6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appetizing to the eyes, and a tree desirable for imparting intelligence; and she took from its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

‘Good for food’ means inordinate desire. ‘Appetizing to the eyes’ means delusion. ‘Desirable for imparting intelligence’ means base pleasure. These statements refer to the proprium, which is the woman. ‘Her husband ate’ means that the rational conceded, 265.

AC (Elliott) n. 208 208. This generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church which allowed itself to be misled by self-love was the fourth. It was unwilling to believe matters of revelation unless it saw confirmation of them from sensory evidence and factual knowledge.

AC (Elliott) n. 209 209. The expressions used here about the tree being good for food, appetizing to the eyes, desirable for imparting intelligence, are such as were applicable to the disposition of the people who lived in those most ancient times. In particular these words have regard to the will, for it was from the will that their evils poured out. When the Word is dealing with those who came after the Flood, such expressions are used as have regard not so much to the will as to the understanding; for the most ancient people possessed from good that which was true, while those coming after the Flood possessed from truth that which was good.

AC (Elliott) n. 210 210. What is the proprium? The human proprium consists of everything evil and false that gushes out of self-love and love of the world. It involves people believing not in the Lord or in the Word but in themselves, and their imagining that what they do not grasp through sensory evidence or through facts does not exist at all. They become as a consequence nothing but evil and falsity and so have a warped view of everything. Things that are evil they see as good, and those that are good as evil; things that are false they see as true, and those that are true as false. Realities they imagine to be nothing, and things that are nothing they imagine to be everything. They call hatred love, thick darkness light, death life, and vice versa. In the Word such people are called ‘the lame and the blind’. This then is the human proprium which in itself is hellish and condemned.

AC (Elliott) n. 211 211. Verse 7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

‘Their eyes were opened’ means that from an inner dictate they knew and acknowledged that they were naked, that is, that they no longer dwelt in innocence, as previously, but were under the influence of evil.

AC (Elliott) n. 212 212. That ‘the eyes becoming opened’ means a dictate coming from within is clear from similar usages in the Word, such as that which Balaam adopts when speaking about himself. Because he had visions he calls himself’ a man who has had his eyes opened’, Num. 24:3, 4. And in the case of Jonathan when on tasting from the honeycomb he experienced a dictate from within indicating that doing so was evil, it is said that his eyes saw, that is, they were enlightened for him to see the thing he had not known up to then, 1 Samuel 14:27, 29. Also, many times in the Word, the eyes stand for the understanding, and so for an inner dictate from the understanding, as in David,

Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep [the sleep of] death. Ps 13:3.

‘Eyes’ here stands for the understanding. In Ezekiel,

They have eyes to see but they see not. Ezek. 11:2.

Here they stand for those who do not wish to understand. In Isaiah,

Plaster over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes. Isa. 6:10.

This stands for their being blinded to prevent their understanding. Through Moses the people were told,

Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear. Deut. 29:4.

‘Heart’ stands for the will, and ‘eyes’ for the understanding. It is said of the Lord in Isaiah 42:7 that He will open eyes that are blind; and in the same prophet,

Out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isa. 29:18.

AC (Elliott) n. 213 213. ‘Knowing that they were naked’ means knowing and acknowledging that they did not dwell in innocence, as they had done previously, but were under the influence of evil. This is clear from the final verse of the previous chapter, where it is said, ‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed’. There it may be seen that being naked and not ashamed means being innocent. The contrary is meant when they are ashamed, as in this chapter which says that they sewed fig leaves together and hid themselves. Indeed when innocence is lacking nakedness arouses feelings of shame and disgrace because people are made aware of their own evil thoughts. Consequently nakedness in the Word stands for evil and shame and has reference to a corrupted Church, as in Ezekiel,

She was naked and bare, and was downtrodden in her own blood. Ezek. 16:7, 11.

In the same prophet,

Let them leave her naked and bare, and let her nakedness be uncovered. Ezek. 23:29.

In John,

I counsel you to buy white garments to clothe you, and let not the shame of your nakedness be manifested. Rev. 3:18.

And in reference to Judgement Day,

Blessed is he who is awake and keeps his garments, so that he may not walk naked, and men see his shame. Rev. 16:15.

In Deuteronomy,

If a man has found in his wife some nakedness, let him write her a bill of divorce. Deut. 24:1.

This also was why Aaron and his sons were commanded to have linen breeches to cover their naked flesh when they approached the altar to serve, lest they should bring iniquity upon themselves and die, Exod. 28:42, 43.

AC (Elliott) n. 214 214. They are called ‘naked’ because they were left to their proprium. Indeed people who are left to the proprium, that is, to themselves, no longer possess any intelligence or wisdom, that is, any faith. Denuded of truth and good, they are accordingly under the influence of evil.

AC (Elliott) n. 215 215. The proprium is nothing but evil and falsity. This has been made clear to me from the fact that anything spirits at any time have spoken from themselves has been evil and false, and so much so that the moment I was made to realize that it originated in themselves I knew it was false, even though, when they spoke, they were so sure of its being the truth that they were in no doubt about it. The same is true of the person who speaks from himself. Similarly whenever people have started to reason about the things which constituted spiritual and celestial life or about those which comprised faith, I have been allowed to perceive that they doubted, indeed denied, those things; for reasoning about faith amounts to doubting and denying. And because they reason from themselves, that is, from the proprium, they plunge into utter falsities, and therefore into abysmal thick darkness, that is, thick darkness of falsities. At such times the tiniest quibble weighs more heavily than a thousand truths, just as a speck of dust deposited on the pupil of the eye prevents it from seeing the universe and everything it contains. The Lord speaks of these people in Isaiah as follows,

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and in their own sight are intelligent! Isa. 5:21

And in the same prophet,

Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me. And evil will come upon you, whose origin you do not know, and disaster will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate, and vastation will come upon you suddenly of which you know not. Isa. 47:10, 11.

In Jeremiah,

Every man has been made stupid by knowledge; every metal-caster is put to shame by his statue, for the idol he moulds is a lie, and there is no spirit in those things. Jer. 51:17.

‘Statue’ stands for the falsity which belongs to the proprium, and ‘idol’ for the evil which belongs to it.

AC (Elliott) n. 216 216. And they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.
‘Sewing leaves’ is excusing themselves, ‘fig’ is natural good, ‘making girdles for themselves’ is being filled with shame. This was how the most ancient people spoke and described this generation of the Church, that is to say, that instead of the innocence existing with them previously they now had natural good which; served to conceal their evil, and that because they were in possession of natural good they were moved to shame.

AC (Elliott) n. 217 217. That in the Word ‘vine’ means spiritual good and ‘fig’ natural good is totally unknown nowadays because the internal sense of the Word has been lost. Nevertheless this is what vine and fig mean or embody whenever they occur, as with the Lord’s statements in His parables involving a vineyard and also a fig tree, and in the incident recorded in Matthew,

Jesus seeing a fig tree by the wayside went to it but found nothing on it but leaves only; therefore He said to it, Let no fruit from now on ever be born from you! Therefore the fig tree withered at once. Matt. 21:19.

This meant that no good, not even natural good, was found on earth. ‘Vine’ and ‘fig’ have the same meaning in Jeremiah,

Were they ashamed that they committed abomination? No indeed, they were not at all filled with shame and they did not know how to blush. Therefore I will surely gather them, says Jehovah; there will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; and its leaf has fallen. Jer. 8:12, 13.

This means that all good, both spiritual and natural, had perished, for people were such that they were not even capable of being filled with shame, just as nowadays people governed by evil are so brazen that they even boast about that evil. In Hosea,

Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel; like the first fruit on the fig tree, in the beginning, I saw your fathers. Hosea 9:10.

And in Joel,

Fear not, you beasts of my fields, for the tree will bear its fruit, the fig tree and the vine will give their full yield. Joel 2:22.

‘Vine’ stands for spiritual good, ‘fig’ for natural good.

AC (Elliott) n. 218 218. Verse 8 And they heard Jehovah God’s voice going to and fro in the garden in the breeze of the daytime; and the man hid himself, and so did his wife, from the face of Jehovah God, in the middle of the tree of the garden.

‘Jehovah God’s voice going to and fro in the garden’ means a dictate which filled them with fear. This dictate is the residue they had of perception. ‘The breeze, or breath,* of the daytime’ means a time when the Church still had a residue of perception. ‘Hiding themselves from the face of Jehovah God’ is being afraid of this dictate, as people conscious of evil normally are. ‘The middle of the tree of the garden in which they hid themselves’ means natural good; that which is Inmost is called ‘the middle’, and perception a tree’, as stated already. But because only a little perception remained ‘tree’ is used in the singular, as though only one were left.
* lit. spirit

AC (Elliott) n. 219 219. ‘Jehovah God’s voice going to and fro in the garden’ means a dictate which filled them with fear. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘voice’ in the Word where ‘Jehovah’s voice’ stands for the Word itself, for the doctrine of faith, for conscience, which is inward mindfulness, and also for every expression of disapproval resulting from these. This also is why thunderbolts are called ‘Jehovah’s voices’, as in John,

Then the angel called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring; and when he called out seven thunders sounded their voices. Rev. 10:3, 4.

This stands for the voice at that time being both external and internal. In the same book,

In the days of the voice of the seventh angel the mystery of God was fulfilled. Rev. 10:7.

Here the meaning is similar. In David,

Sing to God, make melody to the Lord who rides above the heavens of heavens of old. Behold, He will put forth His voice, a mighty voice. Ps. 68:32, 33.

‘The heavens of heavens of old’ stands for the wisdom of the Most Ancient Church. ‘Voice’ stands for revelation and also for an inner dictate. In the same author, The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is glorious; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; the voice of Jehovah flashes forth flames of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. Ps. 29:3-5, 7-9.

And in Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause the excellence of His voice to be heard, for Asshur will be dismayed by the voice of Jehovah. Isa. 30:30, 31.

AC (Elliott) n. 220 220. ‘His voice going to and fro’ means that only a residue of perception was left, so small as to be solitary and inaudible, so to speak. This is also clear from the next verse in which it is said that Jehovah called out to the man. A similar usage occurs in Isaiah,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness; the voice said, Cry! Isa. 40:3, 6.

‘Wilderness’ stands for a Church where no faith exists; ‘the voice of one crying stands for the declaration of the Lord’s coming, in general for every declaration of His coming, as is made to regenerate persons who have this dictate residing in them.

AC (Elliott) n. 221 221. ‘Breeze, or breath,* of the daytime’ means a time when the Church still had a residue of perception. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘day’ and of ‘night’. The most ancient people compared states of the Church to the times of the day and of the night. States when the Church still had light they compared to times of the day; therefore this verse speaks of ‘the breath’ or breeze of the daytime’ as when they still had some residue of perception, from which they knew that they were fallen. The Lord too calls a state in which there is faith ‘the daytime’ and one in which there is none ‘the night’, as in John,

I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when nobody will be able to work. John 9:4.

The consecutive states of man’s regeneration for the same reason were called ‘days’ in Chapter 1.
* lit. spirit

AC (Elliott) n. 222 222. ‘Hiding themselves from the face of Jehovah’ is being afraid of this dictate, as people conscious of evil normally are. This is clear from their reply in verse to, ‘I heard Your Voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked’. ‘The face of Jehovah’, that is, of the Lord, is mercy, peace, and all good, as is quite clear from the blessing,

Jehovah make His face* shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face* upon you and give you peace. Num. 6:15, 26.

And in David,

God be merciful to us and bless us, and make His face* shine upon us. Ps. 67:1.

And elsewhere in David,

Many are saying, Who will cause us to see good? Lift up the light of Your face* upon us, O Jehovah. Ps. 4:6, 7.

The Lord’s mercy is for this reason called ‘the angel of His face’* in Isaiah,

I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. In all their affliction there was no affliction, and the angel of His face* saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isa. 63:7-9.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 223 223. Since the Lord’s face is mercy, peace, and all good, it is clear that He always looks with mercy on anybody, and never turns His face away from anybody. Instead it is man, when governed by evil, who turns away his face, as the Lord has said through Isaiah,

Your iniquities are what separate you from your God, and your sins what cause His face* to hide from you. Isa. 59:2.
* lit. faces

The same applies in this verse which states that ‘they hid themselves from the face of Jehovah because they were naked’.

AC (Elliott) n. 224 224. Mercy, peace, and all good, which are ‘the face of Jehovah’, are the cause of the dictate present with people who have perception. They are also the cause, though in a different way, of the dictate present with people who have conscience. And they always operate with mercy, but they are received according to the state which the individual is experiencing. The state of this man, that is, of this generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, was natural good. And people who are in possession of natural good are of such a nature that they hide out of fear and shame at being naked. But people who are not in possession of natural good do not even hide, because they have no sense of shame. These are referred to in Jeremiah 8:12, 13. See what has been said already in 217.

AC (Elliott) n. 225 225. The middle of the tree of the garden’ means natural good containing some perception, which is called ‘a tree’. This also becomes clear from the garden in which celestial man lived, for everything good and true is called a garden, with variation depending on the person who tends it. Good is not really good unless its inmost is celestial, from which, or rather from the Lord by way of which, perception comes. This inmost is called ‘the middle’, as also in other parts of the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 226 226. Verses 9, to And Jehovah God called out to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. What ‘calling out’ and ‘a voice in the garden’ mean, and why ‘they were afraid because they were naked and hid themselves’ have been explained already. Even though the Lord knows everything already. It is a common occurrence in the Word for Him first to ask the man Where? and What? The reason why he is asked is so that he himself may acknowledge and confess.

AC (Elliott) n. 227 227. But seeing that the origin of perception, dictate, and conscience needs to be known, it being totally unknown at the present day, let some reference be made to it here. It is a momentous truth that the Lord governs man by means of spirits and angels. When evil spirits start to have dominion, angels set to work to ward off evils and falsities, as a consequence of which conflict arises. And it is by means of perception, dictate, and conscience that a person comes to feel this conflict. These, together with temptations, make it possible for a person to become plainly aware of the fact that spirits and angels are residing with him, provided he is not so totally engrossed in bodily interests that he believes nothing he is told about spirits and angels. Consequently if such people were to experience conflict a hundred times over they would still call them delusions and the result of some mental disturbance. I have been allowed almost constantly for several years now to experience thousands of times these conflicts and the resultant feeling, and also to know who those spirits and angels were, what they were like, where they came from, when they arrived, and when they went away; and I have talked to them.

AC (Elliott) n. 228 228. How keen the perception of angels is in detecting whether anything entering in is contrary to the truth of faith and to good springing from love defies description. The nature of that which enters in and the point at which it does so they perceive a thousand times better than man does himself, who knows scarcely anything about it. Angels are able to perceive more in the smallest degree of a person’s thought than he himself in the largest; this is indeed incredible but absolutely true.

AC (Elliott) n. 229 229. Verses 11-13 And He said, Who pointed out to you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree concerning which I commanded you that you should not eat from it? And the man said, The woman whom You gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat. And Jehovah God said to the woman, Why have you done this? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

The meaning of these verses is clear from explanations given already, namely that man’s rational allowed itself to be so deceived by the cherished proprium, that is, by self-love, that he believed nothing unless he could see and touch it. Anyone may recognize that Jehovah God did not speak to a serpent, and indeed that there was no serpent, nor even that He spoke to the sensory part of man, which is meant by the serpent. Anyone may recognize that these statements embody something different, namely that men perceived that they were deceived by their physical senses, but because they loved themselves they first desired to know whether what they had heard about the Lord and about faith in Him was true before they were ready to believe it.

AC (Elliott) n. 230 230. The predominant evil of this generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church was self-love, and not so much love of the world as well, as is the case nowadays; for their lives were confined to their own houses and family groups, and they did not set their heart on the acquisition of wealth.

AC (Elliott) n. 231 231. Not believing the Lord or the Word but themselves and their own senses was the evil not only of the Most Ancient Church before the Flood, but also of the Ancient Church after it. It was also the evil of the Jewish Church, and later on of the new or gentile Church established after the Lord’s Coming, as well as the evil of the Church of today. Consequently no faith exists, and when no faith exists neither does any love of the neighbour. Everything therefore is false and evil.

AC (Elliott) n. 232 232. The situation today is far worse than it was in the past, since people are now able to confirm their incredulity of the senses by means of facts that were unknown to the ancients. The thick darkness that results is so great that it defies description. If man knew how great that thick darkness really was he would be dumbfounded.

AC (Elliott) n. 233 233. Investigating mysteries of faith by means of facts is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, or for a rib to control the tiniest fibres of the chest and the heart. Just as gross, indeed far more gross, is what is sensory and factual in comparison with what is spiritual and celestial. Anyone who wishes to probe merely the secrets of nature, which are countless, discovers scarcely a single one, and when he starts to probe he sinks, as is well known, into falsities. What then would happen if he wished to probe the secrets of spiritual and celestial life, where thousands and thousands of secrets exist for each one contained in the unseen parts of nature?

[2] To illustrate the point, let just one example be taken. Of himself man is incapable of anything other than doing evil and turning himself away from the Lord. Yet it is not the man who does so but the evil spirits residing with him. Yet again it is not the evil spirits who do it but the evil itself which they have made their own. All the same, man does that evil and turns himself away, and is blameworthy, even though his life comes from the Lord alone. On the other hand man of himself cannot possibly do good and return to the Lord. This is accomplished by angels. Yet the angels cannot do it, but only the Lord. All the same, man is capable as if of himself of doing good and of returning to the Lord. The truth of all this cannot possibly be grasped by the senses, formulated knowledge, or philosophy. If these are consulted they deny those things outright, even though they are inherently true. And the same applies with everything else.

[3] These considerations show that people who consult sensory evidence and factual knowledge in matters of belief plunge themselves not only into doubt but also into denial, that is, into thick darkness. And in plunging into thick darkness they also become immersed in every kind of evil desire, for in believing what is false they also do what is false. And when they believe that the spiritual and the celestial do not exist they believe that only the bodily and the worldly do so. So they love anything that belongs to self and the world, and this is how evil desires and evils themselves arise out of what is false.

GENESIS 3:14-19

14 And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you, more than every beast, and more than every wild animal of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust will you eat all the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will tread down your head, and you will bruise His heel.

16 And to the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain and your conceiving; in Pain you will bear sons; and your obedience will be to your husband, and he will have dominion over you.
17 And to the man He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat from it, cursed be the ground on account of you; in great pain you will eat of it all the days of your life.

18 And thorn and thistle will it bring forth for you, and you will eat the plant of the field.

19 With sweat on your brow you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.

AC (Elliott) n. 234 234. CONTENTS

The state of the Church down to the time of the Flood is described. And because the Church at that time destroyed itself completely, it is foretold that the Lord will come into the world and save the human race.

AC (Elliott) n. 235 235. Because people were no longer willing to believe anything unless they apprehended it with the senses, the sensory part, which is the serpent, brought a curse upon itself and became hellish, verse 14.

AC (Elliott) n. 236 236. To prevent therefore the whole of mankind rushing into hell, the Lord promised that He would come into the world, verse 15.

AC (Elliott) n. 237 237. The Church is described further still by the woman. This Church so loved itself, that is, the proprium, that it could no longer apprehend any truth at all, even though the rational which was to have dominion was granted to them, verse 16.

AC (Elliott) n. 238 238. The nature of the rational is then described, in that it conceded, and in so doing also brought a curse upon itself and became hellish, so that reason remained no longer, but only reasoning, verse 17.

AC (Elliott) n. 239 239. The curse and vastation are described, and also their beastly nature, verse 18.

AC (Elliott) n. 240 240. Then their turning away from everything of faith and love is described, and that, this being their condition, from being human they ceased to be so any longer, verse 19.

AC (Elliott) n. 241 241. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The most ancient people, who were celestial, were by nature such that they did actually see with their eyes whatever objects they beheld in the world or on earth, but their thoughts were focused on the heavenly and Divine things which those objects meant and represented. Their physical sight was only something instrumental, and so consequently was their speech. Anyone may recognize the nature of this from his own experience, for a person who directs his attention to the sense of the words a speaker uses does indeed hear his words, but so to speak does not hear them. He grasps only the sense of them. And anyone who thinks more profoundly does not pay attention even to the sense of the words, only to their fuller implications. This generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, however, who are the subject now, were not like their forefathers when they beheld worldly and earthly objects. Because they loved these objects, their minds were fixed on them. They thought about them, and from them thought about heavenly and Divine things. In this way the sensory part began to be the principal, and not, as it had been with their forefathers, the instrumental. And when the worldly and the earthly become the principal, people reason about heavenly things and blind themselves. The nature of this also anyone can recognize from his own experience; for a person who pays no attention to the sense of the speaker’s words but to the words themselves grasps very little of their sense, still less any fuller implications; and sometimes he relies on a single expression or even one grammatical usage to determine the whole of what somebody is saying.

AC (Elliott) n. 242 242. Verse 14 And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you, more than every beast, and more than every wild animal of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust will you eat all the days of your life.

‘Jehovah God said to the serpent’ means they perceived that their sensory-mindedness was the cause. ‘The serpent was cursed, more than every beast and wild animal of the field’ means that the sensory part turned away from the heavenly and towards the bodily, and in so doing brought a curse upon itself. ‘Beast’ and ‘wild animal of the field’ here, as previously, mean affections. ‘The serpent going on its belly’ means that the sensory part was no longer able to look up to heavenly things, only downwards to bodily and earthly things. ‘It was to eat dust all the days of its life’ means that the sensory part had become such as could live from nothing but the bodily and earthly, and so had become hellish.

AC (Elliott) n. 243 243. Within the most ancient celestial man the sensory powers of the body were subject to and served the internal man. Beyond that they were not concerned with those powers. But after they began to love themselves, they set the powers of the senses above the internal man. Consequently those powers were separated, became bodily, and so were condemned.

AC (Elliott) n. 244 244. ‘Jehovah God said to the serpent’ means they perceived that their sensory-mindedness was the cause. This has been shown already and so there is no need to pause over these matters.

AC (Elliott) n. 245 245. ‘He said to the serpent, Cursed are you, more than every beast and more than every wild animal of the field’ means that the sensory part turned away from the heavenly and towards the bodily, and in so doing brought condemnation, that is, a curse, upon itself. This becomes quite clear from the internal sense of the Word. Jehovah God or the Lord never curses anyone, is never angry with anyone, never leads anyone into temptation, and never punishes, let alone curses anybody. It is the devil’s crew who do such things. Such things cannot possibly come from the fountain of mercy, peace, and goodness. The reason why here and elsewhere in the Word it is said that Jehovah God not only turns His face away, is angry, punishes, and tempts, but also slays and even curses, is that people may believe that the Lord rules over and disposes every single thing in the whole world, including evil itself, punishments, and temptations. And after people have grasped this very general concept, they may then learn in what ways He rules and disposes, and how He converts into good the evil inherent in punishment and the evil inherent in temptation. In teaching and learning the Word very general concepts have to come first; and therefore the sense of the letter is full of such general concepts.

AC (Elliott) n. 246 246. ‘Beast’ and ‘wild animal of the field’ mean affections. This becomes clear from what has been stated already in 45, 46, about ‘beast’ and ‘wild animal’, to which let the following quotation from David be added,

You shake down a shower of blessings, O God; Your heritage which is labouring, You strengthen; Your wild animals will dwell in it. Ps. 68:9, 10.

Here also ‘wild animal’ stands for the affection for good, since it is going ‘to dwell in God’s heritage’. The reason ‘beast’ and ‘wild animal of the field’ are mentioned here, as also in 2:19, 20, but ‘beast’ and ‘wild animal of the earth’ in 1:24, 25, is that the subject is the Church, that is, man when regenerate, whereas in Chapter 1 the subject is the time when the Church does not exist, that is, when man has yet to be regenerated; for ‘field’ is a term applying to the Church, that is, to man when regenerate.

AC (Elliott) n. 247 247. ‘The serpent going on its belly’ means that the sensory part was no longer able to look upwards to celestial things, as previously, only downwards to bodily and worldly things. This is clear from the fact that in earliest times ‘the belly’ meant things closest to the earth, ‘the breast’ that those above the earth, and ‘the head’ those that were the lowest part of man since it directs itself to what is the lowest part of man since it directs itself to what is earthly, is referred to as ‘going on its belly’. And in the Jewish Church lying flat with the belly on the head had the same meaning. In the ground and sprinkling dust over David it is said,

Why do You hide Your face* and forget our misery and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust, and our belly cleaves to the ground. Rise up, as help for us, and redeem us for Your mercy’s sake. Ps. 44:24-26.

Here too it is clear that when a person turns away from the face of Jehovah he starts to cling with his belly to the dust and the ground. In Jonah also the belly of the great fish into which he was cast means the earth, as is clear from his own prophecy,

Out of the belly of hell I cried, and You did hear my voice. Jonah 2:2.

Here ‘hell’ stands for the lower earth.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 248 248. Whenever therefore a person was looking to heavenly things he was said to be walking erect, or what is the same, to be looking upwards or forwards; but whenever he was looking to bodily and earthly things he was said to be bent down towards the ground and to be looking downwards or backwards, as in Leviticus,

I am Jehovah your God, who brought You forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you go erect. Lev. 26:13.

In Micah,

You will not remove your necks from it nor go erect. Micah 1:3.

In Jeremiah,

Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore they despised her, for they saw her nakedness; yea, she herself groaned, and turned away backwards. From on high He sent fire into my bones and made me return backwards; He made me desolate. Lam. 1:8-13.

In Isaiah,

Jehovah your Redeemer turns wise men backwards and makes their knowledge foolish. Isa. 44:24, 25.

AC (Elliott) n. 249 249. ‘Eating dust all the days of its life’ means that the sensory part had become such as could live from nothing else than the bodily and the earthly, and so had become hellish. This too is clear from the meaning of ‘dust’ in the Word, as in Micah, 7:14, 16, 17.

Shepherd Your people as in the days of eternity. The nations will see and be ashamed at all their might, they will lick the dust like serpents of the earth they will be shifted from their strongholds.

‘Days of eternity’ stands for the Most Ancient Church, ‘nations’ for people who put their trust in the proprium, who are referred to as ‘licking dust like a serpent’. In David,

Barbarians will bow down before God, and His enemies lick the dust. Ps. 72:9.

‘Barbarians’ and ‘enemies’ stand for those who look solely to earthly and worldly things. In Isaiah,

Serpents, dust will be their bread. Isa. 65:25.

Because ‘dust’ meant people who did not look to spiritual and celestial things but to bodily and earthly, the Lord commanded the disciples to shake the dust off their feet if a city or house was not worthy, Matthew 10:14. For more on ‘dust’ meaning that which is condemned and hellish, see at verse 19.

AC (Elliott) n. 250 250. Verse 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will tread down your head, and you will bruise His heel.

Nobody today is unaware that this is the first prediction concerning the Lord’s Coming into the world; indeed it is quite clear from the words themselves. From them and from the Prophets the Jews also know that a Messiah is going to come. But nobody as yet knows what the serpent, the woman, the seed of the serpent, the seed of the woman, the head of the serpent which He will tread down, and the heel which the serpent will bruise, are used to mean in particular. Therefore these must be explained. ‘The serpent’ is here used to mean in general all evil, and in particular self-love. ‘The woman’ is used to mean the Church, ‘the seed of the serpent ‘all faithlessness, ‘the seed of the woman’ faith in the Lord, ‘He’ the Lord Himself, ‘the head of the serpent’ the reign of evil in general, and of self-love in particular. ‘Treading down’ is used to mean forcing down so that it goes on its belly and eats dust, and ‘the heel’ the lowest part of the natural which is the bodily, which the serpent will bruise.

AC (Elliott) n. 251 251. The reason ‘the serpent’ is used to mean all evil in general and self-love in particular is that all evil has originated in sensory evidence and also factual knowledge, which are what the serpent meant first. Consequently it now means evil itself, of every kind, and in particular self-love, or hatred of the neighbour and the Lord, which is the same as self-love. Because this evil or hatred is manifold, there being many genera of it and even more species, it is referred to in the Word by means of different kinds of serpents, such as snakes, adders, asps, haemorrhes, presters or fiery serpents, flying as well as creeping serpents, and vipers.

[2] These vary according to differences of poison, which is hatred, as in Isaiah,

Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod which smites you has been broken, for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying prester. Isa. 14:19.

‘Serpent’s root’ means sensory evidence and factual knowledge, ‘adder’ evil that is the outcome of falsity arising from these, ‘flying prester’ desire which is the product of self-love. Similar references appear in the following from the same Prophet,

They hatch adder’s eggs, and weave spider’s webs; he who eats their eggs dies, and when it is pressed out a viper is hatched. Isa. 59:5.

The serpent mentioned here in Genesis is in the Book of Revelation called ‘the great fiery-red dragon’, and ‘the serpent of old’, and also ‘the devil and satan who leads the whole world astray’, Rev. 12:3, 9; 20:2. Here and elsewhere devil is never used to mean some devil who is the prince of the rest but the entire crew of evil spirits, and evil itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 252 252. The woman’ is used to mean the Church. This becomes clear from the heavenly marriage, dealt with above in 155. The heavenly marriage is one in which heaven, and so the Church, is united to the Lord by means of the proprium, even to the extent of it existing within the proprium itself; for if there is no proprium the union does not exist. And when the Lord from His mercy instills into this proprium innocence, peace, and good, it still looks like the proprium, but it is now something heavenly and richly blessed; see what has been said already in 164. But the nature of the heavenly and angelic proprium obtained from the Lord on the one hand, and the nature of the hellish and devilish proprium deriving from self on the other, defies description. The difference is like that between heaven and hell.

AC (Elliott) n. 253 253. It is by virtue of the heavenly and angelic proprium that in the Word the Church is called woman (mulier) as well as wife, and also bride, virgin, and daughter. That it is called ‘a woman’ may be seen in Revelation,

A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And the dragon pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Rev. 12:1, 4, 5, 13.

Here ‘the woman’ is used to mean the Church, ‘the sun’ to mean love, ‘the moon’ faith, ‘the stars’ truths of faith, as previously, which things evil spirits hate and persecute with all their might. That the Church is called ‘a woman’ as well as ‘a wife’ may be seen in Isaiah,

For your Maker is your Husband,* Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He is called. For Jehovah has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth. Isa. 54:5, 6.

Here ‘Maker’ and ‘Husband’ are plural nouns because the proprium is the subject as well as [the Church]. ‘A woman forsaken’ and ‘a wife of youth’ stand in particular for the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient. Similarly in Malachi,

Jehovah was a witness between you and the wife of your youth. Mal. 2:14.

That the Church is called ‘wife’ and ‘bride’ may be seen in Revelation,

I saw the holy city, [the new] Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb Rev. 21:2, 9.

And calling the Church a virgin and a daughter is a common occurrence in the Prophets.
* In the original Hebrew the words meaning Maker and Husband are plural at this point.

AC (Elliott) n. 254 254. The seed of the serpent’ is used to mean all faithlessness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a serpent’ as evil of every kind. Seed is something which brings forth and is brought forth, or which begets and is begotten. And because the subject here is the Church, ‘seed’ means faithlessness. When in Isaiah the subject is the corrupted Jewish Church it is called ‘the seed of evil ones’, ‘the seed of the adulterer’, ‘the seed of deceit’,

Woe to a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil ones, perverted sons! They have forsaken Jehovah, they have challenged the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backwards. Isa. 1:4.

Also,

Draw nearer, sons of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer. Are you not those born of transgression, the seed of deceit? Isa. 57:3, 4.

And,

You are cast out from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, for you have corrupted your land, slain your people. The seed of the evil ones will not be named forever. Isa. 14:19, 20.

This refers to the serpent or dragon, which in this chapter is called Lucifer.*
* i.e. Isaiah 14:12.

AC (Elliott) n. 255 255. ‘The seed of the woman’ is used to mean faith in the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of ‘woman’ as the Church, the seed of which is nothing else than faith. II is from faith in the Lord that the Church has its being and gets its name. In Malachi faith is called ‘God’s seed’,

Jehovah was a witness between you and the wife of your youth. And not one has done so, though he has a residue of the spirit. And is there one seeking God’s seed? But take heed within your spirit, lest he act treacherously against the wife of your youth. Mal. 2:14, 15.

Here ‘wife of your youth’ is the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient, whose seed or faith is the subject. In Isaiah,

I will pour out waters upon the thirsty land, and streams on the dry. I will pour out [My] Spirit upon your seed and My blessing upon your descendants. Isa. 44:3.

This too refers to the Church. In Revelation,

The dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who kept the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus Christ. Rev. 12:17.

And in David,

I have made a covenant with My Chosen One, I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your seed even for ever; and I will set up his seed in perpetuity, and his throne as the days of the heavens; his seed will be for ever, and his throne will be like the sun in front of Me. Ps. 89:7, 4, 29, 36.

Here David is used to mean the Lord, ‘his throne’ to mean His Kingdom, ‘the sun’ love, and ‘seed’ faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 256 256. Not only faith but also the Lord Himself is called ‘the seed of the woman’, because for one thing He alone imparts faith and so is faith itself, and for another He chose to be born, and in particular to be born within a Church which, on account of self-love and love of the world, had sunk completely into a hellish and devilish proprium. He did so in order that from His own Divine Power He might within His own Human Essence unite the Divine Celestial Proprium to the human proprium, so that they became one within Himself. Had He not united them the world would have perished completely. Since the Lord is accordingly ‘the Seed of the woman’, the seed is called ‘He’ and not ‘it’.

AC (Elliott) n. 257 257. ‘The head of the serpent’ is used to mean the reign of evil in general and of self-love in particular. This becomes clear from its very nature, which seeks not merely to exercise dominion but also to exercise it over everything on earth. Yet it is not satisfied even with that, but seeks to rule over everything in heaven. Nor is it satisfied even then, but seeks to rule over the Lord. And even then it would not be content. This inclination lies concealed within every spark of self-love. If it were shown the slightest approval and the restraint on it were slackened, you would perceive it break out instantly and strive increasingly to achieve that end. From this it is clear how ‘the serpent’ or evil constituting self-love wishes to have dominion, and how it hates the person it is unable to dominate. This is ‘the serpent’s head’ which rears itself and which the Lord treads on, right down to the ground so that it goes on its belly and eats dust, as described in the previous verse. The serpent or dragon called Lucifer is similarly described in Isaiah,

Lucifer, you said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the uttermost parts of the north. I will go up above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself equal to the Most High. But you will indeed be cast down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Isa. 14:13-15.

The serpent or dragon is also described in Revelation,

A great fiery-red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads many jewels; but he was cast down to the earth. Rev. 12:3, 9.

This describes the height to which it raises its head. In David,

Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies as Your foot-stool; Jehovah will send the rod of Your strength from Zion. He will judge the nations, He will fill them with corpses. He has crushed their head over much land. He will drink from the stream by the way, therefore He will lift up his head. Ps. 110:1, 2, 6, 7.

AC (Elliott) n. 258 258. ‘Treading down’ or bruising is used to mean forcing down so that it goes on its belly and eats dust. This is clear from this and from the previous verse. A similar usage also occurs in Isaiah, Jehovah has cast down the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He will lay it low, He will lay it low even to the ground, He will throw it down even into the dust. The foot will trample on it. Isa. 16:5, 6.

And also,

With His hand He will cast them down to the earth, they will be trodden under foot, the haughty crown. Isa. 28:2, 3.

AC (Elliott) n. 259 259. ‘The heel’ is used to mean the lowest part of the natural, which is the bodily. This cannot be known unless one knows how the most ancient people looked on the things that are in man. Celestial and spiritual things within him they associated with the head and face. The things that sprang from these, such as charity and mercy, they associated with the breast. Natural things however they associated with the foot, lower natural things with the sole of the foot, and the lowest natural and bodily with the heel. Not only did they associate things within man with parts of the body, they also called them such. The lowest things of reason, namely facts, were also meant by what Jacob prophesied concerning Dan,

Dan will be a serpent on the road, an asp on the path, biting the horse’s heels; and its rider falls backwards. Gen. 49:17.

And the statement in David,

The iniquity of my heels has surrounded me. Ps. 49:5.

A similar statement is made in reference to Jacob whose hand, as he was being born, was grasping Esau’s heel, which was why he was called Jacob, Gen. 25:26. The name Jacob derives from the word for a heel, for the Jewish Church, meant by Jacob, was to bruise the heel.

[2] The serpent is capable of harming only the lowest natural things in man, but not, unless they are types of vipers, the interior natural, still less the spiritual, and least of all the celestial. These the Lord preserves, and stores away in man without his awareness. The things which the Lord stores away are in the Word called ‘remnants’. But how the serpent through sensory-mindedness and self-love destroyed those lowest things with people before the Flood; how it destroyed them with the Jews by means of sensory judgements, traditions, and things of no importance, as well as by self-love and love of the world; and how today it is destroying them and has destroyed them by means of sensory judgements, material facts, and philosophical arguments, along with the same self-love and love of the world, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 260 260. From these considerations it is clear that it was revealed to the Church of those times that the Lord would come into the world to save them.

AC (Elliott) n. 261 261. Verse 16 And to the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain and your conceiving; in pain you will bear sons; and your obedience will be to your husband, and he will have dominion over you.

At this point ‘the woman’ means the Church [corrupted] by the proprium, which it loved. ‘Greatly multiplying its pain’ means conflict and the anxiety that arises out of conflict. ‘Conceiving’ means every thought. ‘The sons’ it would bear in pain means the truths it would in this way bring forth. ‘Husband’ (vir) here, as previously, means the rational which it is to obey and which is to have dominion over it.

AC (Elliott) n. 262 262. ‘The woman’ means the Church, as stated already. At this point it means the Church when corrupted by the proprium, which up to now is what ‘woman’ has meant, because the subject is the generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church which had become corrupted.

AC (Elliott) n. 263 263. When therefore the sensory part turns away or brings a curse upon itself, fierce fighting as a consequence begins on the part of evil spirits, and labouring on that of the angels present with that person. For this reason the conflict is described as ‘greatly multiplying pain in conceiving and in bearing sons’, that is, in thoughts and developments of truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 264 264. In the Word references to the conception and bearing of sons are taken in purely a spiritual sense; that is to say, conception stands for the thought and imagination of the heart, and ‘sons’ for truths. This becomes clear from the following in Hosea,

As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, and from the womb, and from conception. Even if they bring up their sons I will bereave them so that no human being is left. But woe to them when I shall have departed from them! Hosea 9:11, 12.

Here ‘Ephraim’ means those who have intelligence, that is, understanding of truth, while ‘sons’ means truths themselves. A similar reference is made elsewhere in Hosea to Ephraim, that is, a person who has intelligence but has become unwise,

The pains of childbirth have come upon him, he is an unwise son, for now he will not present himself at the mouth of the womb of sons. Hosea 13:13.

And in Isaiah,

Blush, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not gone into labour, I have not given birth, nor have I reared young men nor brought up young women. As when the report comes to Egypt, they will go into labour over the report of Tyre. Isa. 27:4, 5.

Here ‘Sidon’ stands for people who have possessed cognitions of faith but have destroyed them by means of facts and have consequently become sterile.

[2] And in the same prophet,

Before she went into labour she gave birth, and before pain came to her she brought forth a male child. Who has heard of such a thing as this? Who has seen such? Does a land give birth in one day? And shall I [bring to the point of birth and not] cause to give birth? said Jehovah. Shall I who cause to give birth shut up [the womb]? said your God. Isa. 66:7-9.

This refers to regeneration, ‘sons’ in a similar way meaning the truths of faith. Because goods and truths are the conceptions and births of the heavenly marriage, the Lord too calls them ‘sons’ in Matthew,

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, but the seed are the sons of the kingdom. Matt. 13:37, 38.

And the goods and truths of a saving faith are called ‘the sons of Abraham’ in John 8:39, for as stated in 255, ‘seed’ means faith. Consequently ‘sons’, who are the embodiment of the seed, are the goods and truths of faith. This also is why the Lord, being Himself the Seed, called Himself the Son of Man, that is, the Church’s Faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 265 265. ‘Husband’ (vir) means the rational. This is clear from verse 6 of this chapter which says that the woman gave to her husband (vir) with her and he ate, meaning that he conceded. It is also clear from what was shown concerning the word ‘man’ (vir) in 158, where that word was used to mean a person who is wise and intelligent. Here however, because wisdom and intelligence had perished as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, it means the rational, for nothing else was left. Indeed the rational is an imitation or seeming likeness of intelligence.

AC (Elliott) n. 266 266. Seeing that every law and every precept arises out of what is celestial and spiritual as its true source this law which has to do with marriages therefore does so too, it ‘being a law which requires a wife, because she acts not so much from reason, as her husband does, but from desire which belongs to the proprium, to defer to her husband’s better judgement (prudentia).

AC (Elliott) n. 267 267. Verse 17 And to the man He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat from it, cursed be the ground on account of you; in great pain you will eat of it all the days of your life.

‘The man’s having listened to the voice of his wife’ means that the husband (vir), which was the rational, conceded; and because the rational did concede it also turned away, that is, brought a curse upon itself, and so consequently did the whole external man. This is what is meant by the statement ‘cursed be the ground on account of you’. That in future his state of life would be wretched is meant by the statement ‘in great pain you will eat from it’. ‘All the days of his life’ means right down to the end of that Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 268 268. That ‘the ground’ means the external man becomes clear from what has been stated already about earth, ground, and field. When a person has become regenerate he is no longer called the earth but the ground, the reason being that celestial seeds have been planted within him. Various other statements in the Word compare him to the ground and actually call him the ground. It is the external man, that is, his affection and memory, in which the seeds of good and truth are planted, not his internal man, for the internal does not have within it anything that is man’s own, but only the external. Within the internal there are goods and truths, and when these are seemingly present no longer, he is in that case an external, that is, a bodily-minded person. In actual fact they have been stored away by the Lord within the internal man without his knowing it; for they do not emerge until the external man so to speak dies, which normally happens in times of temptation, misfortune, sickness, and the hour of death. The rational too belongs to the external man, see 118, and in itself is a kind of go-between for the internal man and the external, for the internal man operates byway of the rational into the bodily external. But once the rational concedes, it separates the external man from the internal, so that neither the existence of the internal man is known any longer, nor consequently what intelligence and wisdom are, which belong to the internal man.

AC (Elliott) n. 269 269. Jehovah God, or the Lord, did not curse the ground, that is, the external man, but the external man turned away, that is, separated itself from the internal, and so brought a curse upon itself. This is clear from what has been shown already in 245.

AC (Elliott) n. 270 270. ‘Eating from the ground in great pain’ means a wretched state of life. This is evident from what comes before and after this, as well as from the fact that ‘eating’ in the internal sense means living. It is evident also from the fact that this kind of life is the outcome of evil spirits starting to fight, and of angels present with the man who labour and do so increasingly as evil spirits begin to get the upper hand. The evil spirits in this case govern his external man, the angels his internal, of which so little is left that the angels can find scarcely anything therewith which to defend him. This is what gives rise to wretchedness and anguish. The reason ‘dead’ men rarely experience such wretchedness and anguish is that they are no longer human, though they imagine that they are more human than anybody else. For they no more know than an animal does what the spiritual or the celestial is, or what eternal life is. Like animals they look down towards earthly objects or out towards worldly ones. They favour only their proprium, and give in to their own inclinations and senses, with complete acquiescence of the rational. And being ‘dead’ men they would not endure any conflict or temptation. Were temptation to come their way, it would be too severe for their lives to bear, and so they would bring an even greater curse upon themselves and would hurl themselves into a state of condemnation even more profoundly hellish. Consequently they are spared this until they have passed into the next life when they are no longer able to ‘die’ as a result of any temptation and wretchedness. At that time they suffer very grievously, which is likewise meant by the statement about ‘the ground being cursed and man’s eating of it in great pain’.

AC (Elliott) n. 271 271. ‘The days of your life’ means the last days of the Church. This is recognized from the fact that the subject here is not one particular person but the Church and its state. The last days of that Church were the time of the Flood.

AC (Elliott) n. 272 272. Verse 18 And thorn and thistle will it bring forth for you, and you will eat the plant of the field.

‘Thorn and thistle’ are used to mean curse and vastation. ‘He was to eat the plant of the field’ means that he was to live as a wild animal does. A person lives as a wild animal when the internal man is so separated from the external that it operates into it only in a very general way. For what comes from the Lord by way of the internal man makes a person human, but what comes from the external, which when separated from the internal within him is nothing but a wild animal, makes a person a wild animal. The disposition within him is similar to that of a wild animal, as are the desires, the appetites, the delusions, and the sensations. His organic parts are similar too. His ability however to reason, and as it seems to him, to do so incisively, is the product of spiritual substance, by way of which the Lord’s life is able to flow into him, but which is corrupted with that kind of person and becomes a life of evil which is ‘death’. This is why he is called a ‘dead’ man.

AC (Elliott) n. 273 273. That ‘thorn and thistle’ means curse and vastation is clear from the fact that ‘harvest’ and ‘fruitful tree’ mean the opposite, namely blessings and increases. It is clear from the Word that thorn, thistle, brier, bramble, and nettle have such meanings, as in Hosea,

Behold, they have gone away on account of the vastation; Egypt will gather them, Moph* will bury them, their precious things of silver. The nettle will inherit them, the bramble will be in their tents. Hosea 9:6.

Here ‘Egypt’ and ‘Moph’* stand for people who rely on themselves and on their own factual knowledge to be wise in Divine matters. In the same prophet,

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.

Here ‘the high places of Aven’ stands for self-love, ‘thorn and thistle on their altars’ for profanation. In Isaiah,

They are smiting their breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine; for over the ground of My people the spiky thorn will come up. Isa. 32:12, 13.

And in Ezekiel,

No more will there be for the house of Israel a pricking brier and a painful thorn from all those surrounding them. Ezek. 28:24.
* i.e. Memphis

AC (Elliott) n. 274 274. ‘Eating the plant of the field’, or fodder that is wild, is to live like a wild animal. This is clear in Daniel in reference to Nebuchadnezzar,

They will drive you away from human beings, and your dwelling will be with the beast of the field; you will be made to eat the plants like oxen; and seven times will pass over you. Dan. 4:32.

And in Isaiah,

Have you not heard that I did it long ago and planned it from days of old? Now I have brought it to pass, and it will be that strongholds, fortified cities, will be devastated into heaps; and their inhabitants, shorn of power’, were dismayed and filled with shame; they became plants of the field and edible plants, grass on rooftops, and scorched earth before standing corn. Isa. 37:26, 27.

This makes explicit what ‘plants of the field’ means, and what ‘edible plants, grass on rooftops, and scorched earth’ means, for the subject here is the time before the Flood, which is what ‘long ago’ and ‘days of old’ are used to mean.
* lit. short in the hand

AC (Elliott) n. 275 275. Verse 19 With sweat on your brow you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.

‘Eating bread with sweat on the brow’ means strong dislike of what is celestial. ‘Returning to the ground from which he was taken’ is reverting to the external man, such as he was before regeneration took place. ‘He was dust and would return to dust’ means that he was condemned and hellish.

AC (Elliott) n. 276 276. That ‘eating bread with sweat on the brow’ means strong dislike of what is celestial becomes clear from the meaning of ‘bread’. Bread is used to mean everything spiritual and celestial, which is the food of angels, and if they were deprived of it they would cease to live, as a person deprived of bread or food ceases to do. That which is celestial and spiritual in heaven also corresponds to bread on earth, and is also represented by bread, as is clear from many places [in the Word]. That the Lord is Bread, because He is the source of everything celestial and spiritual, He Himself teaches in John,

This is the Bread which came down from heaven; anyone who eats this Bread will live forever John 6:58.

This also is why bread and wine are the symbols used in the Holy Supper. This same celestial [or spiritual) was also represented by the manna. That what is celestial and spiritual is the food of angels is clear also from the Lord’s own words,

Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4,

that is, from the life of the Lord, who is the source of everything celestial and spiritual.

[2] The final generation of the Most Ancient Church which came immediately before the Flood and which is the subject here was so perverse and immersed in sensory and bodily interests that they did not wish to hear what the truth of faith was, nor what the Lord’s coming to save them would be. And if these matters were ever mentioned they did not like it at all. This strong dislike is described as ‘eating bread with sweat on the brow’. It was similar with the Jews; being people who did not acknowledge heavenly things, and who wished for a purely earthly Messiah, they inevitably found the manna distasteful, since it was a ration of the Lord; and they called it worthless bread. This was why serpents were sent among them, Num. 21:5, 6. Furthermore the heavenly things, which they obtained in adversity, in affliction, and with tears, were called by them the bread of adversity, the bread of affliction, and the bread of tears.* Those things which men obtained but strongly disliked are described in the present verse as ‘the bread of the sweat on his brow’.
* See for example Isa. 30:20; Deut. 16:3; Ps. 80:5.

AC (Elliott) n. 277 277. This is the internal sense. Anyone who keeps rigidly to the letter apprehends no more than this, that man was to obtain bread from the ground by means of hard work, that is, with sweat on his brow. ‘Man’ here however is not used to mean one individual but the Most Ancient Church. Neither is ‘the ground’ used to mean the ground, nor ‘bread’ bread, nor ‘garden’ garden, but things which are celestial and spiritual, as has been shown quite adequately.

AC (Elliott) n. 278 278. ‘Returning to the ground from which he was taken’ means that the Church would revert to the external man, such as it had been before regeneration took place. This is clear from the fact that ‘the ground’ means the external man, as stated already; and ‘dust’ means condemned and hellish. This too is clear from what has been stated about the serpent, which, being cursed, would have to ‘eat dust’, as said. In addition to what has been shown about the meaning of dust, let the following in David be added,

All who go down to the dust will bow down before Jehovah, whose soul He has not made alive. Ps. 22:19.

And elsewhere in David,

You hidest Your face,* they are dismayed; You gatherest up their spirit, they breathe their last and return to their dust. Ps. 104:29.

That is, when they turn away from the face of the Lord, they ‘breathe their last’, or die, and in so doing ‘return to the dust’, that is, become condemned and hellish.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 279 279. What all these verses in sequence embody is this: The sensory part turned away from what is celestial, verse 14. The Lord would come into the world to unite them, verse 15. Because the external man turned away, conflict resulted, verse 16. This led to wretchedness, verse 17, condemnation, verse 18, and at length hell, verse 19. These followed consecutively in that Church from the fourth generation down to the Flood.

Genesis 3:20-24
20 And the man called the name of his wife Eve, because she was to be the mother of all living.
21 And Jehovah God made for the man and his wife coats of skin and clothed them.
22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become as one of Us, in knowing good and evil; and now by chance he will put out his hand and also take from the tree of life* and eat, and live forever.
23 And Jehovah God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken.
24 So He expelled the man, and away from the east towards the garden of Eden He caused the cherubim to dwell, and the flame of as word turning itself this way and that to guard the way to the tree of life.*
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 280 280. CONTENTS

This section summarizes the Most Ancient Church and those of it who regressed, and so also its descendants down to the Flood, when it came to its end.

AC (Elliott) n. 281 281. The Most Ancient Church itself, which was celestial and which was called ‘Eve’ and ‘the mother of all living’ from the life inherent in faith in the Lord, is dealt with in verse 20.

AC (Elliott) n. 282 282. The first generation of its descendants among whom celestial-spiritual good existed, and the second and third generations with whom natural good existed, meant by the ‘coats* of skin which Jehovah God made for the man (homo) and his wife’, are dealt within verse 20.
* lit. coat

AC (Elliott) n. 283 283. The fourth generation among whom natural good began to melt away is dealt with in verse 22. Had they been created anew or received instruction in heavenly matters of faith they would have perished, which is the meaning of ‘by chance he will put out his hand and also take from the tree of life* and live for ever’.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 284 284. The fifth generation’s being deprived of everything good and true and being taken back to the state which had been theirs before regeneration took place, which is the meaning of ‘being sent out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken’, is dealt with in verse 27.

AC (Elliott) n. 285 285. The sixth and seventh generations’ being separated from knowledge of good and truth and being left to their own foul loves and persuasions and the consequent provision made to prevent their profaning the holy things of faith, which is meant by ‘being cast out and causing cherubim with the flame of a sword to dwell there to guard the way to the tree of life,* is dealt with in verse 24.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 286 286. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Up to now the subject has been the most ancient people and their regeneration. Those who lived as wild animals who subsequently became spiritual men were dealt with first, then those who became celestial and constituted the Most Ancient Church. After that the subject concerned those among them, and their descendants, who regressed dealing in order with the first, second, and third generations of these descendants, and finally with those who followed them, down to the Flood. The verses which follow from here to the end of the chapter are a recapitulation concerning members of the Most Ancient Church down to the Flood, and so are the conclusion to all that has gone before.

AC (Elliott) n. 287 287. Verse 20 And the man called the name of his wife Eve, because she was to be the mother of all living.

‘Man’ (homo) here is used to mean the member (vir) of the Most Ancient Church, that is, celestial man, and ‘wife’ and ‘mother of all living’ the Church. It is called ‘mother’ because it was the first Church of all, and ‘living’ because of its faith in the Lord, who is Life itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 288 288. That ‘man’ (homo) is used to mean the member (vir) of the Most Ancient Church, that is, celestial man, has been shown already indeed that the Lord alone was Man, and that from Him every celestial man was Man because he was His likeness. Consequently everyone who belonged to the Church, no matter who and without exception, was called man (homo). And in the end anyone who in body looked like a human being was called man to distinguish him from animals.

AC (Elliott) n. 289 289. ‘Wife’ is used to mean the Church, in the universal sense the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth. This too has been shown already, while the fact that ‘mother’ as well has the same meaning follows from this. In the Word the Church is commonly called ‘mother’, as in Isaiah,

Where is your mother’s bill of divorce? Isa. 50:1.

In Jeremiah,

Your, mother has been utterly shamed, she who bore you is covered with shame. Jer. 50:12.

In Ezekiel,

[You are] your mother’s daughter who loathes her husband and her sons. Your mother is a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Ezek. 16:45.

Here ‘husband’ (vir) stands for the Lord and everything celestial, ‘sons for truths of faith, ‘Hittite’ for falsity, and ‘Amorite’ for evil. In the same prophet,

Your mother was like a vine in your likeness, planted beside the waters, fruitful, full of branches by reason of many waters. Ezek. 19:10.

Here ‘mother’ stands for the Ancient Church. The Most Ancient Church is pre-eminently called a ‘mother’ because it was the first Church, and the only one to be celestial. For that reason it was the Lord’s beloved more than any other.

AC (Elliott) n. 290 290. It was called ‘the mother of all living’ from its faith in the Lord, who is Life itself. This too becomes clear from what has been shown already. There cannot possibly be more than one Life from which everyone’s life derives, nor can life which really is life possibly exist unless it comes by way of faith in the Lord, who is Life. Neither can faith exist which has life within it unless it comes from Him, and so has Him within it. This is why in the Word the Lord is called the only Living, and the LIVING JEHOVAH, in Jer. 5:2; 12:16; 16:14, 15; 23:7; Ezek. 5:11; the One living forever, in Dan. 4:34; Rev. 4:10; 5:14; 10:6; in David, the fountain of life, Ps. 36:9; in Jeremiah, the fount of living waters, 17:17. Heaven which derives its life from Him is called ‘the land of the living’ in Isa. 38:11; 53:8; Ezek. 26:20; 32:23-27, 32; Ps. 27:13; 52:5; 142:5. And those who have faith in the Lord are called ‘the living’, as in David,

Who has kept our soul among the living. Ps. 66:9.

It is also said that those who have faith appear in the Book of Lives, Ps. 69:28, and in the Book of Life, Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 20:15. This also is why it is said of those who receive faith in Him that they are made alive, Hosea 6:2; Ps. 85:6. Conversely those who have no faith were in consequence called ‘the dead’, as also in Isaiah,

The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To that end You have visited them and wiped them out. Isa. 26:14.

This stands for people who are puffed up with self-love. ‘Rising up means entering into life. They are also called ‘the slain’* in Ezek. 32:23-26, 28-31; and hell is called ‘death’ in Isa. 25:8; 28:15. The Lord too refers to them as ‘the dead’ in Matt. 4:16; John 5:24; 8:21, 24, 51, 52.
* lit. the pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 291 291. This verse describes the initial period when the Church was in the bloom of its youth. As it represented the heavenly marriage, it is for that reason also described as a marriage, and called Eve from a word meaning life.

AC (Elliott) n. 292 292. Verse 21 And Jehovah God made for the man and his wife coats of skin and clothed them.

These words mean that the Lord furnished them with spiritual and natural good. This furnishing is expressed as ‘making’ and ‘clothing’, and spiritual and natural good as ‘a coat of skin’.

AC (Elliott) n. 293 293. From the letter nobody can ever see that this is the meaning of these words. Yet they obviously enclose quite deep arcana, for anyone may recognize that Jehovah God did not literally make coats of skin for them.

AC (Elliott) n. 294 294. That ‘a coat of skin’ means spiritual and natural good does not become clear to anybody except from the inner sense once it has been revealed, and also after that from similar usages where they occur in the Word. In this verse skin in general is referred to, and is used to mean the skin of kid, sheep, or ram. In the Word these mean affections for good; they also mean charity and things belonging to charity. The same was meant by the sheep used in sacrifices. People are called ‘sheep’ who are endowed with the good that stems from charity, that is, with spiritual and natural good. And this is why the Lord is called the Shepherd of the sheep, and why people who are endowed with charity are termed ‘sheep’, as is well known to everyone.

AC (Elliott) n. 295 295. The reason they are said to have been ‘clothed with a coat of skin’ is that [initially] the most ancient people, on account of their innocence, were called ‘naked’, but that later on, once their innocence had perished, they realized they were dwelling in evil, which is called ‘nakedness’ as well. So that everything may appear to fit together as history according to the way the most ancient people expressed themselves, they are here said to have been ‘clothed’ to avoid their being naked, that is, dwelling in evil. That they possessed spiritual and natural good is clear from what has been said and shown about them in verses 1-13 of this chapter, and at this point from the statement that Jehovah God made [coats of skin] and clothed them. For the subject here is the first generation, but more especially the second and third generations, of the descendants of the Church, who were endowed with such good.

AC (Elliott) n. 296 296. The skins of kids, sheep, goats, badgers, and rams mean spiritual and natural goods. This becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word, where Jacob is the subject, and where the Ark is the subject. Of Jacob it is said that he was dressed in Esau’s clothing and on his hands and neck where he was smooth he was covered with kids’ skins. And when Isaac smelled it he said, The smell of my son is like that of the field, Gen. 27:22, 27. That these words mean spiritual and natural goods will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be seen when that chapter is reached. Of the Ark it is said that the covering of the tent was made of rams’ skins and badgers’ skins, Exod. 26:14; 36:19. And whenever the tribes were on the move Aaron and his sons had to cover the Ark with a covering of badgers skin. And similarly the table and its vessels, the lampstand and its vessels, the golden altar, the vessels for ministering and those of the altar were to be covered with badgers’ skin, Num. 4:6, 8, 10-11. That these mean spiritual and natural good will also in the Lord’s Divine mercy be seen when that chapter is reached. For everything in the Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, and indeed everything that Aaron wore when clothed with the sacred vestments, meant that which was celestial-spiritual. Every tiny detail accordingly had some definite representation.

AC (Elliott) n. 297 297. Celestial good is unclothed because it is inmost and is innocent. Good that is celestial-spiritual however is the first to be clothed, and then natural good, for they are more exterior. They are also compared to, and actually called, clothing, as in Ezekiel where the Ancient Church is the subject,

I clothed you with embroidered cloth, shed you with badger, swathed you in fine linen, and covered you with silk. Ezek. 16:10.

In Isaiah,

Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. Isa. 52:1.

In Revelation,

Those who have not soiled their garments will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. Rev 3:45.

And in the same book the twenty-four elders were ‘clad in white garments’, Rev. 4:4. These references show that goods which are more exterior, as are celestial-spiritual and natural, are clothing. And this also is why people who are endowed with the goods springing from charity are seen in heaven dressed in magnificent robes. In the present context however, because they were still in the body, they had ‘coats of skin’.

AC (Elliott) n. 298 298. Verse 22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become as one of Us, in knowing good and evil; and now by chance he will put out his hand and also take from the tree of life’ and eat, and live for ever.

The reason Jehovah God speaks first in the singular and then in the plural is that ‘Jehovah God’ is used to mean the Lord, and at the same time the angelic heaven. ‘The man’s knowing good and evil’ means that he became celestial, and so wise and having intelligence. ‘He was not to put out his hand and take from the tree of life means that he was not to be instructed in mysteries of faith, for if he were instructed in them he could never at all be saved, which is ‘living for ever’.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 299 299. There are two arcana here: the first that ‘Jehovah God’ means the Lord and at the same time heaven, the second that if they had been instructed in mysteries of faith they would have perished forever.

AC (Elliott) n. 300 300. As regards the first arcanum, that ‘Jehovah God’ is used to mean the Lord and at the same time heaven, it should be recognized that in the Word, always for some hidden reason, the Lord is sometimes called simply Jehovah, sometimes Jehovah God, sometimes Jehovah and God interchangeably, sometimes the Lord Jehovah, sometimes the God of Israel, and sometimes simply God. In Genesis 1, for example, where again an utterance is made in the plural, ‘Let Us make man in Our image’, God is the only name used. Not until the next chapter, where the celestial man is the subject, is He called Jehovah God-Jehovah, because He alone has Being and is Living, and so from His essence; God, because of His ability to accomplish all things, and so from His power, as is clear in the Word where the two names are used separately, Isa. 49:4, 5; 55:7; Ps 18:2, 28, 30, 31; Ps. 38:15. Consequently any angel or spirit who spoke to a person, or who people thought had the ability to accomplish something, they called God, as is clear in David,

God stands in the assembly of God, in the midst of the Gods will He judge. Ps. 82:1.

And elsewhere in David,

Who in the sky will be compared to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among sons of gods? Ps. 89:6.

And elsewhere in the same,

Confess the God of Gods; confess the Lord of lords. Ps. 136:2, 3

It is from power that even men are called ‘gods’, as in Ps. 82:6; John 10:34, 75. And Moses is spoken of as ‘a god to Pharaoh’, Exod. 7:1. And this also is why [in Hebrew] the word for God, Elohim, is plural. But because angels have no power whatsoever from themselves, as they themselves also confess, but from the Lord only, and as there is but one God, Jehovah God is therefore used in the Word to mean the Lord alone. Yet when anything is accomplished through the ministry of angels He is spoken of in the plural, as in Genesis 1. In the present chapter too, since a celestial man, as man, did not bear comparison with the Lord, but with angels, it is therefore said that ‘the man has become as one of Us in knowing good and evil’, that is, become someone wise and having intelligence.

AC (Elliott) n. 301 301. As regards the second arcanum, if they had been instructed in mysteries of faith they would have perished for ever, meant by the words ‘Now by chance he will put out his hand and also take from the tree of life* and eat, and live forever’, the position is this: Once people have become reversed orders of life and are unwilling to rely on anything but self and the proprium as the source of their life and wisdom, they are given to reasoning as to whether any matter of faith which they hear about is so or not so. And because self, sensory evidence, and facts are the basis of their reasoning, they inevitably adopt a negative attitude. And when their attitude is negative they also speak blasphemy and practise profanation, and at length do not care whether or not they mingle together unholy things with holy. When man becomes such he stands so condemned in the next life that there is no hope of salvation for him, for the things that have been mingled through acts of profanation remain that way permanently. The moment some idea of what is holy enters in, so does the idea joined to it of what is unholy, and this makes it impossible for that person to live in any but a community of people who are condemned. Anything at all that has been joined to, and is present as, an idea within a person’s thought is in the next life perceived very precisely even by spirits in the world of spirits, but more so by angelic spirits. It is perceived so precisely that from merely one idea they know his whole character. Getting rid of unholy things such as are joined on to those that are holy is not possible without hellish torment, which is so intense that if man knew about it he would beware of profanation as of hell itself.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 302 302. This was the reason why mysteries of faith were never revealed to the Jews. Being what they were they were not even explicitly told that they would live after death, nor explicitly told that the Lord would come into the world to save them. Indeed they were kept in such ignorance and stupidity, and are so still, that as a result they did not know and still do not know of the existence of the internal man, or of anything internal at all. For if they had known it then, or were to know it now, so as to acknowledge it, they would profane it and in so doing would have no hope at all of salvation in the next life. This is what the Lord meant in John,

He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and are converted and I heal them. John 12:40.

Also, the Lord spoke to them in parables, and without explaining any to them, ‘lest seeing they might see, and hearing they might hear, and understand’, as He declares in Matthew 13:13. For the same reason all mysteries of faith were concealed from them and hidden beneath the representatives of their Church, and it was for the same reason that the prophetical style took the form it did. It is one thing however to know and another to acknowledge. Anyone who knows but does not acknowledge is in the same position as one who does not know, whereas anyone who does acknowledge and after that speaks blasphemy and practises profanation is what the Lord was referring to.

AC (Elliott) n. 303 303. Man makes a life for himself out of all his convictions, that is, out of what he acknowledges and believes. The things of which he is not convinced, that is, which he does not acknowledge and believe, have no influence at all on his mind. Consequently nobody is capable of profaning holy things except him who has been convinced of them and so acknowledges them and yet denies them. People who not acknowledge are capable of knowing, but they are in the same position as those who do not know. They are like people who know things which are nothing at all. Of such a nature were the Jews around the time of the Lord’s Coming. And when people are such they are in the Word called ‘vastated’, that is, faith no longer exists. That being so, no harm is done if the inner contents of the Word are disclosed to them, for they are in that case like the people who seeing do not see, and like the people who hearing do not hear and ,ho have a heart made fat, to whom the Lord referred through Isaiah,

Go and say to this people, Hearing hear, but do not understand; and seeing see, but do not comprehend. Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and their heart understands, and they turn again to be healed. Isa. 6:9, 10.

[2] Furthermore mysteries of faith are not disclosed until people reach this point, that is to say, have been so vastated that they no longer believe, the purpose of the vastation being, as has been stated, to make them incapable of profaning. This too the Lord states plainly in Isaiah in the verses immediately following those quoted above,

I said, How long, O Lord? And He said, Until cities are made so desolate that they have no inhabitant, and houses have no man; and the land will be made utterly desolate, and Jehovah will remove man far away. Isa. 6:11, 12.

‘Man’ refers to the person who is wise, that is, who acknowledges and believes. Such was the condition of the Jews, as has been stated, around the time of the Lord’s Coming. And they are for the same reason still kept by means of their desires, in particular by their avarice, in such a state of vastation that if they heard a thousand times over about the Lord and heard that in every detail the representatives of the Church with them mean the Lord, they would still acknowledge and believe nothing. This then was the reason why the people before the Flood were expelled from the garden of Eden and were vastated, even to the point of their being incapable of acknowledging anything that was true.

AC (Elliott) n. 304 304. From these observations it is clear that the following is the meaning of the statement, ‘By chance he will put out his hand and also take from the tree of life’ and eat, and live for evil’. ‘Taking from the tree of life’ and eating’ is knowing to the point of acknowledging anything that belongs to love and faith, for the plural noun ‘lives’ means love and faith. Here as previously, ‘eating’ means knowing, while ‘living for ever’ is not living forever in the body but living after death in eternal condemnation. The person who is dead is not therefore called ‘dead’ because he is going to die at the end of life in this world but because he is going to live the life of death, ‘death’ being condemnation and hell. ‘Living’ has a similar meaning in Ezekiel,

You hunt souls for My people, and you keep souls alive for yourselves, and have desecrated Me among My people, to slay souls that will not die, and to keep alive souls that will not live. Ezek. 13:18, 19.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 305 305. Verse 23 And Jehovah God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken.

‘Being expelled from the garden of Eden’ is being divested of all intelligence and wisdom. ‘Tilling the ground from which he had been taken’ is becoming bodily-minded, as he had been before regeneration took place. That ‘being expelled from the garden of Eden’ is being divested of all intelligence and wisdom is clear from the meaning of ‘a garden’ and of ‘Eden’, dealt with already. Indeed ‘a garden’ means intelligence, or an understanding of truth. And because ‘Eden’ means love it also means wisdom, that is, a will for good. That ’tilling the ground from which he had been taken’ is becoming bodily-minded, as he had been before regeneration took place, has been shown already at verse 19, where similar words occur.

AC (Elliott) n. 306 306. Verse 24 So He expelled the man, and away from the east towards the garden of Eden He caused the cherubim to dwell, and the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that to guard the way to the tree of life.*
‘Expelling the man’ is divesting him completely of all will for good and of all understanding of truth, even to the point of his being separated from them, and ceasing to be a human being. ‘Causing the cherubim to dwell away from the east’ is to provide against the possibility of his entering into any arcanum of faith, for ‘the east towards the garden of Eden’ is the celestial from which intelligence flows. ‘Cherubim’ means the Lord’s providing against this kind of person entering into things which are matters of faith. ‘The flame of a sword turning itself this way and that ‘means self-love together with its insane desires and derivative persuasions, which are such that he does indeed wish to enter in but is in fact led away from there towards bodily and earthly interests. And ‘guarding the way to the tree of life*’ is guarding against the possibility of his profaning holy things.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 307 307. The subject here is the sixth and seventh generations, which perished in the Flood. They were expelled outright from the garden of Eden, that is, from all understanding of truth. They ceased so to speak to be human beings and were abandoned to their insane desires and persuasions.

AC (Elliott) n. 308 308. What ‘the east’ means and what ‘the garden of Eden’ means has been shown already and therefore there is no need to pause over them here. But the fact that ‘cherubim’ means the Lord’s providing against a person’s insanely entering into mysteries of faith from the proprium, sensory evidence, and factual knowledge as the starting point, and against his profaning those mysteries, and in so doing perishing, becomes clear from several places in the Word where mention is made of cherubim. Because the Jews were the kind of people who, if they had had any clear knowledge about the Lord’s Coming, about the fact that the representatives, or types, in that Church meant the Lord, about life after death, about the inner man, and if they had had any clear knowledge of the internal sense of the Word, they would have committed profanation and would have perished for ever; the Lord’s protection against this therefore was represented by the cherubim on the Mercy Seat over the Ark, and by those on the curtains of the Tabernacle, and on its veil, and similarly in the Temple. And the provision of the cherubim meant the Lord’s care and protection of them, Exod. 25:18-21; 26:1, 31;1 Kings 6:23-29, 32, 35. For the Ark, which contained the covenant, had the same meaning as the tree of life* does here, that is, the Lord and heavenly things which are altogether His. Consequently the Lord is also many times called ‘the God of Israel seated upon the cherubim’; and it was from between the cherubim that He spoke to Aaron and Moses, Exod. 25:22; Num. 7:89.

[2] A plain description of this exists in Ezekiel where the following is stated,

The glory of the God of Israel was raised up from above the cherub over which it had been, towards the threshold of the house. He called out to the man clothed in linen. And He said to him, Pass through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who groan and sigh over all the abominations committed in the middle of it. And to the others He said, Pass through the city after him and smite; let not your eye spare, and show no clemency; slay outright old men, young men, virgins, little children, and women. Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain.** Ezek. 9:3-7.

And later on,

He said to the man clothed in linen, Go into the wheel underneath the cherub, and fill the palms of your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and spread them over the city. A cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and he took [some of it] and put it into the palms of the man clothed in linen; and he took it and went out. Ezek. 10:1-7.

From these verses it is clear that the Lord’s providence which guards against people’s penetrating mysteries of faith is meant by ‘the cherubim’, and that people were therefore abandoned to their insane desires, which in this quotation are also meant by ‘the fire which was spread over the city’, and by ‘nobody’s being spared’.
* lit. of lives
** lit. the pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 309 309. ‘The flame of a sword turning itself this way and that’ means self-love together with its insane desires and persuasions, which are such that people do indeed wish to enter in but are in fact led away from there towards bodily and earthly interests. This may be confirmed by so many examples from the Word as to fill up page after page. Take simply the following verses in Ezekiel,

Prophesy and say, Thus said Jehovah, Say: A sword, a sword has been sharpened and also polished for a great slaughter, sharpened to flash like lightning. Let the sword be repeated a third time, the sword of their slain,* the sword of the great slaughter, penetrating the inmost parts of their dwellings that their heart may melt. And it will multiply offences in all their gates; I have given the terror of the sword. Ah! It has become as lightning. Ezek. 21:9, 10, 14, 15.

‘The sword’ here stands for the desolate condition of a person so that he sees no good or truth at all, but sheer falsities and things that are contrary, meant by ‘multiplying offences’. And the phrases in Nahum about the horseman mounting, and the flame of a sword, and the lightning-flash of a spear and a multitude of slain,* Nahum 7:3, refer to people who wish to enter into the arcana of faith.
* lit. their pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 310 310. Each word in this verse embodies so many very deep arcana that all cannot possibly be disclosed. These arcana are applicable to the disposition of those people who perished in the Flood, a disposition which was entirely different from that of the people who lived after the Flood. In short, their earliest forefathers, who constituted the Most Ancient Church, were celestial people, and so had celestial seed planted within them. Consequently their descendants had seed within themselves which had a celestial origin. Seed which has a celestial origin entails love ruling the whole mind and unifying it. For the human mind consists of two parts, will and understanding. To the will belongs love, or good, and to the understanding faith, or truth. From love or good they perceived what was a matter of faith or a matter of truth, so that their mind was one. When people are of this nature that seed which has a celestial origin remains with their descendants. But if the latter recede from truth and good, it is extremely dangerous, for they so corrupt the whole of their mind that it can scarcely be restored in the next life.

[2] It is different with people who do not have celestial but spiritual seed within them, as was the case with the people after the Flood and with those living today. They have no love within them, and so no will for good; but they can be given faith, or understanding of truth. From faith or an understanding of truth they can be guided into some form of charity, but it is by a different route, by a conscience implanted by the Lord and acquired from cognitions of truth and good arising from it. Consequently their state is entirely different from that of people before the Flood. This state will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. These are the arcana which are totally unknown to people nowadays, for nowadays people do not know what the celestial man is, nor even what the spiritual man is, let alone the consequent nature of man’s mind and life, and his consequent state after death.

AC (Elliott) n. 311 311. In the next life, the state of those who perished in the Flood is such that they cannot possibly be left alone in the world of spirits, or among other spirits, but are kept in a hell separate from the hells of other spirits, which is situated so to speak below a kind of mountain. This mountain which is seen and acts as a barrier is the product of their dreadful delusions and persuasions. Their delusions and their persuasions are such as so to be wilder other spirits that those spirits do not know whether they are alive or dead. For those who perished in the Flood so deprive these other spirits of all understanding of truth that the latter perceive nothing at all. Such power of persuasion had existed even during their lifetime with those who perished in the Flood. And because in the next life, they would continue to be such that they could not possibly exist with other spirits without bringing a death-like condition upon them, they were all wiped out; and the Lord in His Divine mercy introduced people after the Flood into different states.

AC (Elliott) n. 312 312. This verse contains a complete description of the state of these people who came before the Flood.
(1) ‘They were expelled’, that is, separated from celestial good.
(2) ‘Cherubim were made to dwell away from the east towards the garden of Eden. ‘ Those people being what they were, the wording is ‘away from the east towards the garden’, words that are applicable solely to them, and not to the people who lived at a later time. The wording as it stands in this verse cannot be used of the latter, but the reverse can, ‘away from the garden of Eden towards the east’.
(3) This verse also speaks of ‘the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that’. Had the reference been to modern man the phrase would have been ‘the sword of a flame’, and ‘the tree of life ‘would have been used instead of ‘the tree of lives’. And there are further features to the train of thought here which cannot possibly be explained. They are understood solely by angels to whom the Lord reveals them. Each of these states involves countless arcana, not a single one of which is known to the human race.

AC (Elliott) n. 313 313. These facts that have now been stated concerning the first man show that he is not the source of hereditary evil existing in everyone alive today, and that people are wrong if they imagine that no other hereditary evil exists apart from that which emanated from that first man. For the subject here is the Most Ancient Church, which is called ‘Man’. When it is called Adam it means that man was taken from the ground; that is, from not being ‘man’ that Church became man through regeneration from the Lord. This is the derivation’ and the meaning of that name. As for hereditary evil the situation is this: Everyone who by his own actions commits sin consequently acquires a certain disposition, and the evil arising from it is implanted in his children and becomes hereditary. Thus what a person inherits from either parent, from his grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather and so on back, accordingly multiplies and increases in his descendants, and remains with each one. And with each one it is increased further still by the sins of his own doing. Nor is hereditary evil dispersed and rendered harmless except with people who are being regenerated by the Lord. This anyone can recognize, if he has paid the matter any attention at all, from the fact that the evil inclinations of parents are so noticeable in children that one family, indeed one generation, can be distinguished from another by means of it.

AC (Elliott) n. 314 314. MAN’S ENTRY INTO ETERNAL LIFE – continued

After an awakened person, that is, a soul, has been provided with the benefit of light so that he is able to look around him, the spiritual angels mentioned already render him every kindly service he could possibly wish for in that state. They also tell him about the things that exist in the next life, but only insofar as he is able to take it in. If he has had faith, and if he desires it, they also show him the marvels and splendours of heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 315 315. But if he is not the kind who wishes to be told, the awakened person, or soul, is in that case eager to get away from the company of those angels. This the angels are quick to perceive, for in the next life all the ideas constituting a person’s thought are communicated. When he is eager to get away from them, it is not they who abandon him, but he who severs his connection with them. Angels love everybody and above all else wish to render kindly services, to inform, and to lead him to heaven. Their chief delight consists in doing these things.

AC (Elliott) n. 316 316. Once a soul severs his connection in this way he is then welcomed by good spirits, and while he is in their company they too render him every kindly service. But if in the world his life has been such that he could not abide the company of good persons, he is eager to get away from them as well. This goes on repeatedly until he enters into association with the kind of people who match completely the life he led in the world. With them he so to speak discovers his own life. At that point, astonishingly, he leads a life among them similar to what he had done in the body. But once souls have resumed that life, they then start a new phase of life. Some after a longer, others after a briefer, length of time are conducted from there to hell. But people who have dwelt in faith in the Lord, after the new phase has started, are gradually led towards heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 317 317. Some are brought to heaven more slowly, others more rapidly. Indeed I have even seen some persons raised up to heaven immediately after death. Let just two examples be given.

AC (Elliott) n. 318 318. A certain spirit once came and spoke to me. Certain signs made it clear that he had only recently departed the earthly life. Imagining that he was still in the world, he did not at first know where he was; but once he was given to know that he was in the next life and that he no longer had any material possessions, such as a home, wealth, and the like, but was in another realm in which he had been divested of all he possessed in the world, he was greatly distressed, not knowing which way he was to go or where he was going to live. He was told however that the Lord alone provided for him and for everyone. He was at that point left to himself to think in the same way as he had done in the world. He began to think about what he would do now that he had been deprived of all those things that had made life possible (everybody’s thoughts in the next life are plainly perceived). But in his distress he was brought into the company of celestial spirits who were from the province of the heart and who rendered him whatever kindly service he desired. After this he was left to himself again, and by virtue of charity began to think about how he could repay so much kindness. All this proved that during his lifetime he had been governed by charity derived from faith. Consequently he was raised up straightaway into heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 319 319. I also saw another who was carried up immediately into heaven by angels, to be accepted by the Lord and shown the glory of heaven. There have been many other experiences, involving others who were carried up to heaven after a space of time.

AC (Elliott) n. 320 320. 4

THE NATURE OF THE LIFE OF A SOUL OR SPIRIT

As regards, in general, the life of souls, that is, of people who have recently died and become spirits, much experience has made it clear to me that when a person enters the next life he is not aware of being in that life. He imagines that he is still in the world, indeed that he is still within his physical body, insomuch that when he is told he is a spirit he is absolutely dumbfounded. He is dumbfounded because, for one thing, he is still in every way a man as regards sensations, desires, and thoughts, and for another, he did not during his lifetime believe in the existence of the spirit, or as is the case with some, that the spirit could possibly be such as his experience now proves.

AC (Elliott) n. 321 321. A second general consideration is this: A spirit has sensory powers, and the gifts of thought and speech, which are far superior to any that he had when he lived in the body, so superior as to be scarcely comparable at all. This is not something that spirits are aware of however until the Lord enables them to reflect on the matter.

AC (Elliott) n. 322 322. Let people beware of falsely assuming that spirits do not possess far keener sensory powers than they did in the life of the body. From thousands of experiences I know that the reverse is true. But if, because of their presuppositions about the spirit, they are unwilling to believe it, let them find out for themselves when they enter the next life, where their own experience will force them to believe it. Not only do spirits have the gift of sight, since they are living in light; good spirits, angelic spirits, and angels also live in a light so bright that the light of this world at midday is scarcely comparable to it. The light in which they live and by which they see will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. Spirits also have a sense of hearing so keen that the sense of hearing in their physical body cannot be reckoned its equal. For several years now, with scarcely any break, they have been holding conversations with me. But their speech also will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. They have the sense of smell, which also will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. They have a very delicate sense of touch, which in hell brings about pain and torment. For all sensations are related to the sense of touch; indeed they are just different forms and variations of that sense.

[2] They have desires and affections, with which those they had in the life of the body cannot be compared. More, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, will be said about these later on. They are far more penetrating and discriminating in their thinking than they were during their lifetime. One idea of their thinking embodies more than a thousand ideas did during their lifetime. In what they say to one another they are so direct and to the point, so clear-cut and discriminating, that if man were to catch only a fraction of it he would be dumbfounded. To sum up, they have lost absolutely nothing; they are as men, yet more perfect, but without material flesh and bones and the imperfections that go with these. They acknowledge and perceive that even during their lifetime it was the spirit that was active in sensation, and that although it presented itself within the body, it still did not belong to the body. When therefore the body has been laid aside, sensations are far more excellent and perfect. Life consists in sensation, for no life is possible without sensation, and as is the sensation so is the life, a point which anyone is capable of knowing.

AC (Elliott) n. 323 323. Some experiences of people who have thought differently from this during their lifetime follow at the end of the chapter.

GENESIS 4

1 And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain; and she said, I have gained a man, Jehovah.*

2 And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And it happened at the end of days that Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground, a gift for Jehovah.

4 And Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat; and Jehovah had respect for Abel and his gift.

5 And for Cain and his gift He had no respect; and Cain’s anger was set ablaze and his face** fell.

6 And Jehovah said to Cain, Why has your anger been set ablaze, and why has your face** fallen?

7 If you do well, is there not an uplifting? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door. And to you is his desire, and you have dominion over him.

8 And Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

9 And Jehovah said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?

10 And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood*** is crying out to me from the ground.

11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood*** from your hand.

12 When you till the ground, it will not yield its strength to you; a wanderer and a fugitive you will be in the land.

13 And Cain said to Jehovah, My iniquity is too great for it to be taken away.

14 Behold, You have driven me this day off the face** of the ground; and I shall be hidden from Your face,** and I shall be a wanderer and a fugitive in the land; and everyone finding me might kill me.

15 And Jehovah said to him, Therefore anyone killing Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And Jehovah put a sign on Cain, lest anyone finding him should strike him.

16 And Cain went out from the face** of Jehovah, and he dwelt in the land of Nod towards the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.

18 And to Enoch was born Irad. And Irad beget Mehujael, and Mehujael beget Methushael, and Methushael beget Lamech.

19 And Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the one was
Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

20 And Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of the tent-dweller and of cattle.

21 And his brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all who play upon the harp and organ.

22 And Zillah also, she gave birth to Tubal-cain, teacher of every
craftsman in bronze and iron. And Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.

23 And Lamech told his wives Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, O wives of Lamech, and with your ears perceive my speech that I have killed a man (vir) to my wounding, and a little one to my bruising.

24 For sevenfold will Cain be avenged, and Lamech seventy-sevenfold.

25 And the man (homo) knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and she called his name Seth – for God has appointed me another seed in place of Abel, seeing that Cain had killed him.

26 And to Seth also was born a son, and he called his name Enosh; then they began to call on the name of Jehovah.
* Grammatically Jehovah is at this point accusative or objective case.
** lit. faces
*** lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 324 324. CONTENTS
The subject is doctrinal systems which were not part of the Church, that is, which were heresies, and a new Church raised up afterwards, called Enosh.

AC (Elliott) n. 325 325. The Most Ancient Church possessed faith in the Lord by way of love, but there arose out of them people who separated faith from love. Doctrine concerning faith separated from love was called Cain, while charity, which is love towards the neighbour, was referred to as Abel, verses 1, 2.

AC (Elliott) n. 326 326. The worship of both of them is described, that of separated faith by Cain’s gift, and that of charity by Abel’s gift, verses 3, 4. Worship deriving from charity was acceptable, but not that deriving from separated faith, verses 4, 5.

AC (Elliott) n. 327 327. The state of those who belonged to separated faith altered to a state that was evil. This is described as Cain’s anger blazing and his face* falling, verses 5, 6.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 328 328. It is from charity that the particular nature of faith is recognized. Also charity wishes to dwell with faith provided faith is not made the chief thing and raised up above charity, verse 7.

AC (Elliott) n. 329 329. Charity was annihilated among those who separated faith and placed it above charity. This is described as Cain’s killing his brother Abel, verses 8, 9.

AC (Elliott) n. 330 330. Charity that had been annihilated is called ‘the voice of blood’*, verse 10, erroneous doctrine ‘cursed from the ground’, verse 11, falsity and consequent evil ‘a wanderer and fugitive in the earth’, verse 12. And because they turned away from the Lord they were in danger of eternal death, verses 13, 14; but because it was faith by means of which charity would afterwards be implanted, it was utterly forbidden to violate it, which is ‘putting a sign on Cain’, verse 15; and to remove it from the position it held previously is the meaning of ‘his dwelling towards the east of Eden’, verse 16.
* lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 331 331. This heresy when further developed was called Enoch, verse 17.

AC (Elliott) n. 332 332. The heresies springing up out of this one are called each by its own name. In the last of them, called Lamech, nothing of faith remained any longer, verse 18.

AC (Elliott) n. 333 333. A new Church at that point arose which was meant by Adah and Zillah, and was described by their sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain, the celestial features of that Church by Jabal, the spiritual by Jubal, and the natural by Tubal-cain, verses 19-22.

AC (Elliott) n. 334 334. The rise of that Church when everything to do with faith and everything to do with charity had been annihilated, and when it had been violated, which was utterly and completely forbidden, is described in verses 23, 24.

AC (Elliott) n. 335 335. A Summary of these matters is then presented: after separated faith, meant by Cain, had annihilated charity, new faith was provided by the Lord, by means of which charity was implanted. This faith is Seth, verse 25.

AC (Elliott) n. 336 336. Charity that has been implanted by means of faith is called Enosh, that is, a different man [from the one before]. This is the name of that Church, verse 26.

AC (Elliott) n. 337 337. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Since the subject in this chapter is the degeneration of the Most Ancient Church – that is, the falsification of doctrine – and consequently the heresies and sects which the names of Cain and his descendants cover, it must be realized that nobody can begin to understand how doctrine was falsified, that is, understand the nature of the heresies and sects of that Church, unless he has a proper knowledge of the nature of the true Church. From the latter the nature of those heresies and sects can be recognized. The Most Ancient Church has been dealt with quite extensively already; and it has been shown that it was the celestial man, and that it acknowledged no other faith than faith that originated in love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. It was through that love from the Lord that they possessed faith, that is, a perception of everything that was a matter of faith. Consequently they were not even willing to mention faith for fear of separating it from love, as shown already in 200-203.

[2] Such is the nature of the celestial man, that nature being described also by means of representatives in David where the Lord is referred to as ‘the King’, and the celestial man as ‘the King’s son’,

Give the King Your judgements, and the King’s son Your righteousness. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. They will fear You with the sun and towards the face* of the moon, a generation of generations. In his days the righteous man will flourish, and much peace, until the moon will be no more. Ps. 72:1, 3, 5, 7.

‘The sun’ means love, ‘the moon’ faith, ‘mountains’ and ‘hills’ the Most Ancient Church. ‘A generation of generations’ means the Church that came after the Flood. The statement ‘until the moon will be no more’ is made because faith will then be love. See also what is written in Isaiah 30:26.

[3] Such was the nature of the Most Ancient Church and such its doctrine. Nowadays things are altogether different, for now faith comes first. But by means of faith the Lord imparts charity, at which point charity becomes the chief thing. Consequently doctrine in most ancient times was falsified when people made profession of faith and in so doing separated faith from love. People who falsified doctrine in this way, or who separated faith from love, that is, made profession of faith alone, were at that time called ‘Cain’; and such a thing with them was a gross error.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 338 338. Verse 1 ‘And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain; and she said, I have gained a man, Jehovah’.*

‘The man and Eve his wife’ means the Most Ancient Church, as is well known. Its first offspring, or firstborn, is faith, which is here called ‘Cain’. ‘She said, I have gained a man, Jehovah’ means that with those called Cain faith was known and acknowledged as something existing by itself.
* Grammatically Jehovah is at this point accusative or objective case.

AC (Elliott) n. 339 339. In the three previous chapters it has been shown so adequately that ‘the man and his wife’ meant the Most Ancient Church as to leave no room for any doubt in the matter. And seeing that ‘the man and his wife’ means the Most Ancient Church, it is therefore clear that what it conceived and gave birth to was no different in type. Among the most ancient people it was customary to give proper names, and by such names to mean real things, and so establish a genealogy. Indeed this is how things of the Church are interrelated. One thing that is conceived and born from another resembles a human birth. This is why in the Word things of the Church are commonly referred to as conception, birth, offspring, infants, small children, sons, daughters, young men, and so on. The prophetical sections are full of such references.

AC (Elliott) n. 340 340. That ‘she said, I have gained a man, Jehovah’ means that with those called Cain faith was known and acknowledged as something existing by itself is clear from what has been stated in the preliminary sections of this chapter.* Previously they had not so to speak known what faith was, for what they possessed was a perception of everything that constituted faith. But once they started to make distinct and separate doctrine out of faith they drew on things which had been with them matters of perception and reduced them to doctrine. This doctrine they called ‘I have gained a man, Jehovah’, as though they had come upon something new. So that which had previously been written on the heart was now made into factual knowledge. In early times people used to find a name for anything that was new, and used to attach explanations as to what such names embodied. For example, to indicate what Ishmael meant, the explanation was added, Jehovah hearkened to her affliction’, Gen. 16:11; what Reuben meant, ‘Jehovah has seen my affliction’, Gen. 29:32; what Simeon meant, ‘Jehovah heard that she was less loved’, ibid. Verse 33; and what Judah meant, ‘This time I will confess Jehovah’, ibid. Verse 35. The altar built by Moses was called ‘Jehovah is my banner’, Exod. 17:15. And here likewise doctrine concerning faith is called ‘I have gained a man, Jehovah’, which is what Cain meant.
* i.e. in 337

AC (Elliott) n. 341 341. Verse 2 And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a Shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.

The second born of the Church is charity, which is meant by ‘Abel’ and by ‘brother. A shepherd of the flock’ means one who practices good flowing from charity, while ‘a tiller of the ground’ means someone who, devoid of charity, acts from faith separated from love, which is not faith at all.

AC (Elliott) n. 342 342. That the second born of the Church is charity becomes clear from the things which the Church conceives and gives birth to, which are nothing other than faith and charity. The first of those born to Leah by Jacob had a similar meaning. Reuben meant faith; Simeon, faith expressed in action; Levi, charity, Gen. 29:32-34. This also was why the tribe of Levi assumed the function of the priesthood and became representative of the shepherd of the flock. Being the second born of the Church, charity is referred to as ‘a brother. and is called ‘Abel’.

AC (Elliott) n. 343 343. ‘A shepherd of the flock’ means someone who practises good flowing from charity. Anyone can know this, for it is a recurrent feature of the Old Testament and of the New. He who leads and teaches is called the Shepherd, those who are led and taught are called the flock. One who does not lead to good flowing from charity, and does not teach that good is not a true shepherd; and one who is not being led to good and learning it is not the flock. Really it is superfluous to confirm from the Word that this is the meaning of the Shepherd and flock; but even so let the following be referred to: In Isaiah,

The Lord will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread of the produce of the ground. On that day, He will pasture your cattle in a broad grassland. Isa. 30:23.

Here ‘bread, the produce of the ground’ means charity. In the same the prophet, The Lord Jehovih will pasture His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs into His arm, and will carry them in His bosom: He will gently lead those that are with young.* Isa. 40:11.

In David,

Harken, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock. You who are seated on the cherubim, shine forth. Ps 80:1.

In Jeremiah,

I have likened the daughter of Zion to one comely and delicately bred. Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents near her round about; they will pasture each in his own space. Jer. 6:2, 3.

In Ezekiel,

The Lord Jehovah has said, I will multiply them like the flock of mankind, like the flock of holy things, like the flock of Jerusalem, in her appointed seasons. Thus will the deserted cities be filled with the flock of mankind. Ezek. 36:37, 38.

In Isaiah,

The whole flock of Arabia will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to you. Isa. 60:7

Those who lead the flock to the good of charity are those who ‘gather the flock together’, but those who do not lead to such good are those who scatter it, for all bringing together and unity is the product of charity, while all scattering and disunity result from the lack of it.
* i.e. those ewes that are in milk

AC (Elliott) n. 344 344. What is the use of faith, that is, what is the use of knowledge, awareness, and doctrine related to faith, other than of becoming such as it teaches? The first thing faith teaches is charity, Mark 11:28-35; Matt. 22:35-40, charity being the end of everything faith has in view. If a person does not become as it teaches, what is knowledge or doctrine but something which is in fact nothing?

AC (Elliott) n. 345 345. ‘A tiller of the ground’ means someone who, devoid of charity, acts from faith separated from love, which is not faith at all. This becomes clear from the statements made further on, ‘Jehovah had no respect for his gift’, and ‘he killed his brother’, that is, he destroyed charity meant by Abel. People who look to bodily and earthly interests are said to be ’tilling the ground’, as is clear from what has been stated at Chapter 3:19, 23, where it is said that ‘the man was sent out of the garden of Eden to till the ground’.

AC (Elliott) n. 346 346. Verse 7 And it happened at the end of days that Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground, a gift for Jehovah. ‘The end of days’ is used to mean the course of time, ‘fruit of the ground’ the works of faith devoid of charity, and ‘a gift for Jehovah’ worship deriving from this.

AC (Elliott) n. 347 347. That ‘the end of days’ is used to mean the course of time maybe clear to anyone. In its earliest form, when simplicity was still present in it, this doctrine called Cain does not seem to have been so unacceptable as it was later on. This is clear from the fact that they called offspring ‘Gained a man, Jehovah’; so in its earliest form faith was not separated so much from love as it was ‘at the end of days’, or in the course of time, as usually happens with all doctrine that belongs to true faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 348 348. ‘The fruit of the ground’ is used to mean the works of faith devoid of charity. This also is evident from what follows. In effect the works of faith devoid of charity are the works of no faith at all. In themselves they are dead since they belong purely to the external man. Such works are referred to in Jeremiah as follows,

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? You have planted them, they have also taken root, they have gone on, they are also producing fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their heart.* How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Jer 12:1, 2, 4.

‘Near in their mouth but far from their heart’* means adherents to faith separated from charity, of whom it is said that ‘the land mourns’. They are also called in the same prophet ‘the fruit of works’,

The heart is deceitful above all, and is something hopeless. Who knows it? I Jehovah who searches the heart and tries the reins, to give to everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his works. Jer. 17:9, 10.

In Micah,

The earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their works. Micah 7:13.

But the fact that this kind of fruit is no fruit at all, that is, a work that is dead, and that both this fruit and root perish, is stated in Amos,

I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Amos 2:9.

And in David,

You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed from the sons of man. Ps. 21:10.

But works that stem from charity are alive, and are referred to as ‘taking root below’ and ‘yielding fruit above’, as in Isaiah,

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. Isa. 37:31.

‘Producing fruit upwards’ is doing so from charity. In the same prophet such fruit is called ‘a fruit that is excellent’,

On that day the branch of Jehovah will be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the land will be excellence and an adornment for the survivors of Israel. Isa. 4:2.

It is also ‘the fruit of salvation’, as it is called in the same prophet,

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain with righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bear the fruit of salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I Jehovah will create it. Isa. 45:8.
* lit. reins or kidneys

AC (Elliott) n. 349 349. ‘A gift’ is used to mean worship. This becomes clear from the representative acts in the Jewish Church where, in addition to first-fruits of the earth and of all it yields, and also presentation of the firstborn, sacrifices of every kind are called ‘gifts’. It was in these acts that worship consisted. And because they each represented something heavenly and had reference to the Lord, these gifts meant true worship, a fact that anyone is capable of recognizing. For what is any representative without the real thing it represents, and what is anything external without an internal but some idol or object that is dead? That which is external has life from things that are internal, that is, from the Lord through those internal things. From this it is clear that all gifts in the representative Church mean worship of the Lord. Further details on these points will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be presented later on.

[2] That ‘gifts’ in general means worship becomes clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Malachi,

Who endures the day of His coming? He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold, and like silver, and they will be people who present to Jehovah a gift in righteousness. Then the gift of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Jehovah as in the days of old and as in the former years. Mal. 3:2-4.

‘A gift in righteousness’ means something internal, which ‘the sons of Levi’, that is, devout worshippers, are going to offer. ‘The days of old’ means the Most Ancient Church, and ‘former years’ the Ancient Church.
In Ezekiel,

On My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, all the house of Israel, the whole of that land, will worship Me. There I will be well-disposed towards them, and there I will require your offerings and the first-fruits comprising your gifts in all your holy acts. Ezek. 20:40.

‘Offerings and first-fruits comprising gifts in holy acts’ similarly are works that have been made holy through charity from the Lord. In Zephaniah,

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia those who adore Me will bring My gift. Zeph. 3:10.

‘Ethiopia’ stands for people who are in possession of celestial things, namely love, charity, and works stemming from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 350 350. Verse 4 And Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat; and Jehovah had respect for Abet and his gift.

Here, as previously, ‘Abel’ means charity. ‘The firstborn of the flock’ means the holy which is the Lord’s alone. ‘Fat’ means the celestial itself, which also is the Lord’s. ‘Jehovah had respect for Abel and his gift’ means that things constituting charity, and all worship deriving from it, were acceptable to the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 351 351. That ‘Abel’ means charity has been shown already. Charity means love towards the neighbour and compassion, for anyone who loves his neighbour as himself also has as much compassion for him in his suffering as he does for himself in his own.

AC (Elliott) n. 352 352. ‘The firstborn of the flock’ means the holy which is the Lord’s alone. This becomes clear from the firstborn in the representative Church, where everything was holy because it had regard to the Lord, who alone is ‘the Firstborn’. Love and faith deriving from it are the firstborn. All love is the Lord’s and not a trace of it man’s, and this is why the Lord alone is ‘the Firstborn’. This was represented in the Churches of the ancient era by the requirement to consecrate the firstborn of man and of beast to Jehovah, Exod. 13:2, 12, 15. It was also represented by the tribe of Levi, which in the internal sense means love – though Levi was born later than Reuben and Simeon, who in the internal sense mean faith – being taken instead of all the firstborn and becoming the priesthood, Num. 3:40-46; 8:14-20. That the Lord as regards His Human Essence is the Firstborn of all is clear from the following statement in David,

He will cry to Me, You are My Father, My God, and the Rock of My Salvation; I will also make Him as the Firstborn, supreme over the kings of the earth. Ps. 89:26, 27.

And in John,

Jesus Christ, the Firstborn from the dead, and Prince of the kings of the earth. Rev 1:5.

Please note that the firstborn of worship mean the Lord, while the firstborn of the Church mean faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 353 353. ‘Fat’ means the celestial itself, which also is the Lord’s. The celestial consists in everything that is an aspect of love. Faith too is celestial when it has its origin in love. Charity is the celestial, and all good stemming from charity is celestial. All of these were represented by ‘the fat’ in sacrifices, especially by the fat on the liver or omentum, by the fat on the kidneys, by the fat covering the entrails, and by that actually on the entrails. These were consecrated and burnt on the altar, Exod. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:3, 4, 14; 4:8, 9, 19, 26, 31, 35; 8:16, 25, and were consequently called ‘the bread offered by fire for an odour of rest’ for Jehovah,* Lev. 3:15, 16. For this reason the Jewish people were forbidden to eat any of the fat from animals, and this was called ‘a perpetual statute throughout their generations’, Lev. 7:17; 7:23, 25. They were forbidden to do so because that Church was such that it did not acknowledge anything internal, still less anything celestial.

[2] That ‘fat’ means celestial things and goods that now from charity is clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Why do you weigh out silver for** that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will find its delight in fatness. Isa. 55:2.

In Jeremiah,

I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. Jer. 31:14.

Here it is quite clear that ‘fat’ is not used to mean fat but celestial-spiritual good. In David,

They will be filled with the fat of Your house, and You givest them drink from the river of Your delights; for with You is the fountain of life, in Your light do we see light. Ps. 36:8, 9.

Here ‘fat’ and ‘the fountain of life’ stand for the celestial, which consists in love, and ‘river of delights’ and ‘light’ stand for the spiritual, which consists in faith deriving from love. In the same author,

My soul will be satisfied with fat and fatness, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.*** Ps. 63:5.

Here similarly ‘fat’ stands for the celestial, ‘joyful lips’*** for the spiritual. It is quite clear that the celestial is meant for the reason that ‘the soul will be satisfied’. And first-fruits, which were the firstborn of the earth, are for the same reason called ‘fat’ in Num. 18:12.

[3] Since there are countless genera of celestial things, and still more countless species of them, they are described in general in the words of the song which Moses recited to the people,

Butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed**** of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you will drink unmixed wine. Deut. 32:14.

Nobody can possibly know what these expressions mean except from the internal sense. Without the internal sense nobody is able to know what butter from the cattle means, or milk from the flock, or the fat of lambs, or the fat of rams and of goats, or the breed**** of Bashan, or the kidney-fat of wheat, or the blood of the grape. Without the internal sense they would be mere words and nothing more. In reality every single thing mentioned there means the genera and species of celestial things.
* The Latin here means for a rest to Jehovah but comparison with the original Hebrew suggests that Sw. intended for an odour of rest, as in 2165:2, 5943:3.
** or Why do you spend money on
*** lit. lips of songs
**** lit. sons

AC (Elliott) n. 354 354. Jehovah had respect for Abel and his gift’ means that things constituting charity and all worship deriving from it were acceptable to the Lord. This has been explained already under what ‘Abel’ means and under ‘gift’.

AC (Elliott) n. 355 355. Verse 5 And for Cain and his gift He had no respect; and Cain’s anger was set ablaze and his face’ fell.

‘Cain’, as has been stated, means faith separated from love, or the kind of doctrine which allows faith to be separated. ‘His gift for which He had no respect’ means, as previously, that his worship was unacceptable. ‘Cain’s anger was set ablaze and his face* fell’ means a change as to interiors; ‘anger’ means the fact that charity had departed, and ‘face’ the interiors, which are said ‘to fall’ when they undergo change.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 356 356. That ‘Cain’ means faith separated from love, or the kind of doctrine which allows faith to be separated, and also that ‘the gift for which He had no respect’ means that his worship was unacceptable, have been shown already.

AC (Elliott) n. 357 357. ‘Cain’s anger was set ablaze’ means that charity had departed. This becomes clear from what comes further on, where it is said that he killed Abel his brother, who means charity. Anger is the general emotion that results from anything which gets in the way of self-love and its desires In the world of evil spirits this is perceived plainly. Indeed general anger against the Lord prevails, because they are not moved at all by charity, but only by hatred. Anything that is unfavourable to self-love and the love of the world arouses opposition, which manifests itself in anger. In the Word, anger, wrath, and even rage, are frequently attributed to Jehovah; but in fact they belong to man and are attributed to Jehovah because they seem to be from Him, for reasons mentioned already. The following is stated in David,

He let loose on them His fierce anger and wrath, and rage, and distress, and a mission of evil angels. He levelled out a path for His anger, He did not spare their soul from death. Ps. 78:49, 50.

Not that Jehovah ever ‘lets loose His anger on anyone’, but that people bring it down on themselves. Nor, as it is said, does He send evil angels but man takes them to himself. This is why the statement is added that ‘He levels out a path for His anger and does not spare their soul from death’, and it is said in Isaiah that

He will come to Jehovah, and all will be ashamed who were incensed against Isa. 45:14.

From these quotations it is clear that ‘anger’ means evils, or what amounts to the same, a departure from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 358 358. ‘The face* falling’ means change taking place as to interiors. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the face’ and from the meaning of ‘falling’. Among the ancients the face meant internal things, for it is through the face that internal things shine forth. What is more, people in most ancient limes were such that the face was in complete accord with internal things, so that anyone could see from another person’s face the character of his disposition or mind (animus aut mens). They considered it something monstrous to express one thing in the face and to be thinking another; pretence and deceit in those times were abhorrent. Consequently the face meant things that were internal. When charity shone out of the face, the face was said to be ‘lifted up’, but when the reverse happened the face was said to ‘fall’. This also explains why the Lord is referred to as lifting up His face upon man, as in the Blessing in Num. 6:26 and Ps. 4:6, which means the Lord’s gift of charity to man. What ‘the falling of the face’ means is clear in Jeremiah,

I will not cause My face to fall upon you, for I am merciful, said Jehovah. Jer. 3:12.

By ‘Jehovah’s face’ is meant mercy. When He ‘lifts up His face’ on anyone, He is from His mercy imparting charity to him. The reverse is the case when He ’causes His face to fall’, that is, when man’s face falls.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 359 359. Verse 6 And Jehovah said to Cain, Why has your anger been set ablaze, and why has your face* fallen?

‘Jehovah said to Cain’ was the dictate of conscience. ‘Anger has been set ablaze and the face* has fallen’ means, as previously, the departure of charity and the change that took place in interiors.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 360 360. That ‘Jehovah said to Cain’ means the dictate of conscience does not need to be confirmed, for words similar to these have been explained already.

AC (Elliott) n. 361 361. Verse 7 If you do well, is there not an uplifting? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door. And to you is his desire, and you have dominion over him.

‘If you do well there is an uplifting’ means, if your desires are good, charity resides with you. ‘If you don’t do well, sin is lying at the door’ means, if your desires are not good, charity does not exist, but evil.’ To you is his desire, and you have dominion over him’ means that charity wishes to reside with you, but cannot because of your wish to have dominion over it.

AC (Elliott) n. 362 362. This verse describes the doctrine of faith which is called Cain, and how because it separated faith from love, it also separated it from charity, the offspring of love. Wherever a Church exists, heresies arise in it as a consequence of people basing their thinking on one particular article of faith to which they attach supreme importance. For man’s thought process is such that when he focuses his whole attention on any one matter he makes that more important than any other, especially so when delusion claims it as a discovery of his own, and when self-love and love of the world inflate his ego. In that case everything seemingly agrees with it and supports it, even to the extent of his being ready to swear to it when in fact it is false. In the same way people called Cain made faith more essential than love; and because in so doing they were leading lives devoid of love, both self-love and delusion resulting from it banded together in them.

AC (Elliott) n. 363 363. The nature of the doctrine of faith called Cain is clear from the description of it given in this verse. The following explanation of the contents of the verse shows that charity was capable of being allied to faith, but only if this resulted in charity and not faith being the superior.
(1) ‘If you do there is an uplifting’, which means that if your desires are good, charity might be present. ‘Doing well’ means in the internal sense desiring well, for the doing of a good deed flows from the desiring of it. In ancient times deed and will made one, and from the deed people caught sight of the will, for pretence did not exist at all. That ‘uplifting means the presence of charity is clear from what has been stated already about the face,* that is to say, about ‘lifting up the face’* meaning possession of charity, and about ‘the face* falling’ meaning the reverse.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 364 364. (2) ‘If you do not do well, sin is lying at the door’, which means that if your desires are not good charity does not exist, but evil. That ‘sin lying at the door’ means evil at hand and wishing to get in may become clear to anyone. Indeed when charity does not exist hatred and lack of compassion do so, which are the source of all evil. ‘Sin’ stands in general for the devil, and he, that is, his crew, is at hand when a person is devoid of charity. Only one thing will drive the devil and his crew away from the door, and that is love to the Lord and towards the neighbour.

AC (Elliott) n. 365 365. (3) To you is his desire, and you have dominion over him’, which means that charity wishes to reside with faith but cannot because faith wishes to have dominion over it, which is contrary to order. As long as faith wishes to have dominion, it is not faith. But once charity has dominion it is faith. for the chief thing of faith is charity, as shown already. Charity may be compared to a flame of fire, without which heat and light do not exist since it is the source of heat and light; separated faith may be compared to light which, when devoid of the heat of the flame, is certainly light, but winter light when everything becomes inactive and dies off.

AC (Elliott) n. 366 366. Verse 8 And Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. ‘Cain spoke to Abel’ means a passage of time. ‘Cain’, as has been stated, means faith separated from love, and ‘Abel’ means charity, the brother of faith, which is why he is twice called ‘brother’ in this verse. ‘Field’ means all that constitutes doctrine. ‘Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him’ means that separated faith annihilated charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 367 367. Apart from showing that charity is the ‘brother’ of faith and that ‘field’ means all that comprises doctrine, there is no need to confirm these considerations from similar usages in the Word. That charity is the brother of faith may be clear to anyone from the very nature or essence of faith. The brother relationship between these two was also represented by Esau and Jacob, and was the reason why they struggled for the birthright and the superior position this carried with it. The relationship was also represented by Perez and Zerah, the sons Tamar had by Judah, Gen. 38:28-30, where again the question of primogeniture arises. It was represented by Ephraim and Manasseh as well, Gen. 48:13, 14, wherein a similar way the matter of the birthright and the higher position it carried occurs. And there are many other examples. Indeed these two, faith and charity, are both the offspring of the Church. Faith is called ‘a man’ (vir), as Cain is in verse 1 of this chapter, while charity is called ‘a brother’, as in Isa. 19:2; Jer. 17:14 and in other places. In Amos 1:9 the union of faith and charity is called ‘a covenant between brothers’.

[2] As has been stated, that which Jacob and Esau represented was similar to the meaning of Cain and Abel. The fact that Jacob in a similar manner wished to supplant Esau is also clear in Hosea,

He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways and requite him according to his deeds; in the womb he supplanted his brother. Hosea 12:2, 3.

But the fact that Esau, that is, charity represented by Esau, would nevertheless be the superior is clear from the prediction made through their father Isaac,

By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother; but when you have dominion over him you will cast away his yoke from above your neck. Gen. 27:40.

Or what amounts to the same, a gentile or new Church is represented by Esau, and the Jewish Church by Jacob. This is why it was stated so many times that they were to recognize gentile nations as brothers. Charity was also the reason for everyone being referred to as ‘a brother’ in the gentile or Primitive Church, and for the Lord calling ‘brothers’ those who hear the Word and do it, Luke 8:21. Hearers of it are those who have faith, doers those who have charity. But those who are hearers, that is, say they have faith, but are not doers, that is, have no charity, are not brothers, for the Lord likens them to the foolish, Matt. 7:24, 26.

AC (Elliott) n. 368 368. ‘A field’ means doctrine, and so everything constituting doctrine concerning faith and charity. This is clear from the Word. In Jeremiah,

O My mountain in the field, I will give for spoil your resources, all your treasures. Jer. 17:3.

Here ‘field’ stands for doctrine, ‘resources and treasures’ for the spiritual riches of faith, that is, the things that constitute the doctrine of faith. In the same prophet,

Surely the snow of Lebanon will not leave the rock of My field? Jer. 18:14.

In reference to Zion it is said, in Jer. 26:18; Micah 3:12, that ‘it will be ploughed up like a field’ when the doctrine of faith does not exist. In Ezekiel,

He took from the seed of the land and planted it in a seed field. Ezek. 17:5.

This refers to the Church and her faith, for doctrine is called ‘a field’ because of the seed it has in it. In the same prophet,

And let all the trees of the field know that I, Jehovah, will bring low the high tree. Ezek. 17:24.

In Joel,

The field has been laid waste, the ground has been mourning because the corn has been laid waste, the new wine has failed, the oil has fallen off. Farmers have been put to shame, the harvest of the field has perished, all the trees of the field have withered. Joel 1:10-12.

Here ‘field’ stands for doctrine, ‘trees’ for cognitions, ‘farmers’ for people who cultivate them. In David,

The field will be exultant and everything in it; then all the trees of the wood will sing. Ps. 96:12.

Here it cannot be a field that is exultant nor trees of the wood that sing, but things residing with man, namely cognitions of faith. In Jeremiah,

How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? Jer. 12:4.

Here similarly it cannot be the land nor the grass of the field that mourns but something with man that has been laid waste. Similarly in Isaiah,

The mountains and hills will resound before you with song, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isa. 55:12.

The Lord too, when foretelling the close of the age, also calls the doctrine of faith ‘a field’,

Two will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left. Matt. 24:40; Luke 17:36.

‘Field’ is used to mean the doctrine of faith, false doctrine as well as true, as in the present verse in Genesis. Because ‘field’ means doctrine anyone receiving any seed of faith, whether the individual, the Church, or the world, is called a field.

AC (Elliott) n. 369 369. So then, the meaning of the statements ‘when they were in the field’ and ‘Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him’ is this: When these two, faith and charity, existed from the doctrine of faith, faith separated from love inevitably regarded charity as being worthless and so annihilated it – like those people nowadays who assert that faith alone accomplishes salvation whether or not they perform any work of charity. This very supposition in itself annihilates charity, even though they know and profess with their lips that faith does not effect salvation unless love is present.

AC (Elliott) n. 370 370. Verse 9 And Jehovah said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?

‘Jehovah said to Cain’ means a certain perceptivity coming from within, which acted as a dictate concerning charity, which is ‘Abel your brother’. ‘He said, I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ means that faith regarded charity as worthless and was unwilling to be its servant. So it completely rejected anything that was a matter of charity. Such did their doctrine become.

AC (Elliott) n. 371 371. When the most ancient people used the phrase ‘Jehovah is saying’ they meant perception, for they recognized that it was the Lord who enabled them to perceive. This perception could last only so long as love remained the chief thing. When love to the Lord, and so love towards the neighbour, died out, perception came to an end, the amount of love that remained determining the amount of perception they had. This power of perception was peculiar to the Most Ancient Church, but after faith had been separated from love, as it was among those following the Flood, and charity was conferred through faith, conscience took the place of perception. This conscience was a dictate as well, though in a different way; but this in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be discussed later on. When conscience dictates, it is likewise said that ‘Jehovah says’ in the Word, for conscience is formed from things revealed in the Word, and from cognitions derived from it. And when the Word states or dictates, it is the Lord who is stating. Consequently nothing is more common, even today, than to assert that ‘the Lord is saying’ when referring to some matter of conscience or of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 372 372. ‘To be a keeper’ means to serve, in the way that gate-keepers and door-keepers did in the Jewish Church. Faith is called the keeper of charity from the fact that it ought to be the servant. But it accorded with the basic assumptions of that doctrine to say that faith was to have dominion, as stated at verse 7.

AC (Elliott) n. 373 373. Verse 10 And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood* is crying out to me from the ground.

‘The voice of Your brother’s blood* means violence done to charity. ‘Blood’ calling out means guilt, and ‘the ground’ schism or heresy.
* lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 374 374. That ‘the voice of blood’* means violence done to charity is clear from many places in the Word where ‘voice’ stands for everything that accuses, and ‘blood’ for all sin, especially hatred. For anyone who hates his brother murders him in his own heart, as the Lord teaches,

You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills will be liable to judgement. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgement. Whoever indeed says to his brother, Raca! will be liable to the Sanhedrin. And whoever says You fool! will be liable to the Gehenna of fire. Matt. 5:21, 22.

These sayings denote degrees of hatred. Hatred is contrary to charity; and though a person does not actually commit murder, the intention to do so is still there, and by whatever possible method. It is external restraints alone which prevent murder actually being committed. And this is why all hatred is called blood, as in Jeremiah,

How well you direct Your way in the quest for love! Yes, in your skirts the blood of needy innocent souls is found. Jer 2:33, 34.

[2] And since hatred is meant by blood, so is every kind of wickedness, for hatred is the source of all wickedness, as in Hosea,

Perjuring, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they commit robbery, and blood’ has followed on blood.* Therefore the land will mourn and every inhabitant will anguish. Hosea 4:2, 3.

And in Ezekiel,

Will you judge the city of blood’ and declare to her all her abominations? A City that sheds blood’ in the midst of her. By your blood which you have shed you have become guilty. Ezek. 22:2-4, 6, 9.

This is referring to the lack of compassion. In the same prophet,

The land is full of the judgement of blood,* and the city is full of violence. Ezek. 7:23.

And in Jeremiah,

For the sins of the prophets of Jerusalem, the iniquities of her priests who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous, they wander blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood. Lam. 4:13, 14.

In Isaiah,

When the Lord will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and wiped away from its midst the blood* of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Isa. 4:4.

In the same prophet,

Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Isa. 59:3.

In Ezekiel,

I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood,* and I said to you, Live in your blood* I indeed said to you, Live in your blood.* Ezek. 16:6, 22.

This refers to the abominations of Jerusalem, which are called ‘blood’*. Lack of compassion, and hatred, in the last times a real so described as blood in Rev. 16:3, 4. The plural ‘bloods’ is used because all forms of iniquity and abomination well up out of hatred, just as all forms of good and holiness do out of love. Anyone therefore who hates his neighbour would murder him if he could, and he does do so in whatever way he can. That is to say, he does him violence, which is strictly the meaning here of ‘voice of blood’.*
* lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 375 375. ‘A voice crying out’ and ‘the voice of a cry’ are expressions commonly used in the Word and are applied to any situation involving any kind of uproar, commotion, or disturbance, even when the occasion is a happy one, as in Exod. 32:17, 18; Zeph. 1:9, 10; Isa. 65:19; Jer. 48:3. In this instance the voice is one of accusation.

AC (Elliott) n. 376 376. ‘Blood* calling out’ means guilt. This follows from what is said above, for those who resort to violence are held guilty, as in David,

Evil will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will beheld guilty. Ps. 34:21.

In Ezekiel,

You, the city, have become guilty through the blood you have shed. Ezek. 22:4.
* lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 377 377. ‘The ground’ here means schism or heresy. This is clear from the fact that ‘a field’ means doctrine, and therefore ‘the ground’ of which the field is a part is schism. Man himself is meant by ‘the ground’ as well as by ‘the field’ because these things are sown within him. Indeed it is by virtue of what is sown within that anyone is man. Anyone who is good and true is so by virtue of goods and truths; anyone evil and false is so by virtue of evils and falsities. Anyone who subscribes to a particular system of doctrine is referred to by the name of that system, as is anyone who subscribes to a particular schism or heresy; and so ‘ground’ at this point stands for schism or heresy within man.

AC (Elliott) n. 378 378. Verse 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood* from your hand. ‘You are cursed from the ground’ means that he became alienated on account of schism. ‘Which has opened its mouth’ means whose teaching was such. ‘To receive your brother’s blood* from your hand’ means that it did violence to charity, which it annihilated.
* lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 379 379. The fact that such things are meant by these statements is clear from what has gone before, and from the fact that ‘one who is cursed’ means one who became alienated, as also shown already in 245. For it is forms of iniquity and abomination, which are forms of hatred, that alienate a person and cause him to look downwards only, that is, towards bodily and earthly interests, and so to things that belong to hell. This takes place when charity is banished and annihilated. Indeed the bond that exists between the Lord and man is in that case put asunder. Charity alone, or love and compassion, is what joins the two together. Faith without charity never does so, for that is not faith, but mere knowledge such as even the devil’s crew is able to possess and by which they are able to deceive and mislead the upright and pretend to be angels of light. Very wicked preachers are sometimes accustomed to act in a similar way; they preach with a zeal that seems to be an expression of inner godliness but is in fact nothing more with them than that which they bear on the lips. Can anyone be so lacking in judgement as to believe that faith alone residing in the memory has the power to achieve anything, or that mere thought from the same source has? Everyone from personal experience knows that nobody places any value on another person’s words and assentings if these are not an expression of his will and intention. It is will and intention that make them acceptable and join one person to another. The activity of the will is the real person, not thought and utterance of that which he does not will. From the activity of his will he acquires a particular nature and disposition, for his will is what moves him. If his thoughts are of good, the essential element of faith, which is charity, is contained in his thinking, because it contains the will for good. But if he asserts that his thoughts are of good and yet lives wickedly, the activity of his will cannot possibly be anything else than the will of evil, and as a consequence faith does not exist.

AC (Elliott) n. 380 380. Verse 12 When you till the ground, it will not yield its strength a wanderer and a fugitive you will be in the land.

‘Tilling the ground’ means cultivating this schism or heresy. ‘Not yielding its strength to you’ means that it is sterile. ‘Being a wanderer and a fugitive in the land’ means not knowing what truth and good are.

AC (Elliott) n. 381 381. That ’tilling the ground’ means cultivating this schism or heresy is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, dealt with already just above. That ‘not yielding its strength’ means its being sterile is evident from what has just been said about ’tilling the ground’ and from the very words themselves, as well as from the consideration that people who profess faith devoid of charity profess no faith at all, as has been stated.

AC (Elliott) n. 382 382. ‘Being a wanderer and a fugitive in the land’ means not knowing what truth and good are. This is clear from the meaning in the Word of ‘wandering’ and of ‘fleeing’, as in Jeremiah,

Prophets and priests wander blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lam. 4:13, 14.

Here ‘prophets’ stands for those who teach, ‘priests’ for those who live according to what is taught. ‘Wandering blind in the streets’ means not knowing what good and truth are.

[2] In Amos,

Part of one field had rain, and part of the field on which it did not rain dried up. So two or three cities will wander to one city to drink water, and they will not be satisfied. Amos 4:7, 8.

Here ‘the part of the field on which rain fell’ is the doctrine of faith that derives from charity, while ‘the part or section of the field on which it did not rain’ is the doctrine of faith devoid of charity. ‘Wandering to drink water’ similarly means searching for truth.

[3] In Hosea,

Ephraim has been stricken, their root has dried up, they will bear no fruit. My God will cast them away because they have not hearkened to Him, and they will be wanderers among the nations. Hosea 9:16, 17.

‘Ephraim’ stands for an understanding of truth, that is, for faith, since he was Joseph’ s firstborn. ‘A root which had dried up’ stands for charity that is incapable of bearing fruit. ‘Wanderers among the nations’ means that they have no knowledge of truth and good.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Go up against Arabia and lay waste the sons of the east. Flee, wander far away; the inhabitants of Hazer have plunged into the depths to dwell there. Jer. 49:28, 30.

‘Arabia’ and ‘the sons of the east’ stand for the possession of celestial riches, or things of love, which when laid waste are also spoken of as ‘fleeing and wandering’, or fugitives and wanderers, when they achieve nothing good at all. And ‘the inhabitants of Hazer’, or those who possess spiritual riches, which are things of faith, are spoken of as ‘plunging into the depths’, which means perishing.

In Isaiah,

All your chief men are wandering about together, on account of the bow they have been put in chains. They have fled from far away. Isa. 12:3.

This refers to ‘the valley of vision’, which is the delusion that faith can exist without charity. This explains why verse 14 below speaks of ‘a wanderer and a fugitive’, that is, a person who, confessing faith in isolation from charity, has no knowledge at all of truth and good.

AC (Elliott) n. 383 383. Verse 13 And Cain said to Jehovah, My iniquity is too great for it to be taken away.
‘Cain said to Jehovah’ means admission that he was under the influence of evil, an admission resulting from pain felt inwardly. ‘My iniquity is too great for it to be taken away’ means consequent despair.

AC (Elliott) n. 384 384. From this it is clear that Cain still had some degree of good remaining within him. But the fact that all good stemming from charity did subsequently perish is clear from what is said about Lamech at verses 19, 23, 24.

AC (Elliott) n. 385 385. Verse 14 Behold, You have driven me this day off the face* of the ground; and I shall be hidden from Your face,* and I shall be a wanderer and a fugitive in the land; and everyone finding me might kill me.

‘Being driven off the face’ of the ground’ means being separated from all the truth of the Church. ‘Being hidden from Your face’* means being separated from all the good present in faith and flowing from love. ‘Being a wanderer and a fugitive in the land’ means not knowing what truth and good are. ‘Everyone finding him might kill him’ means that all evil and falsity would destroy him.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 386 386. ‘Being driven from the face* of the ground’ means being separated from all the truth of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, which in the genuine sense is the Church or member of the Church, and so whatever the Church professes, as stated already. But as the subject itself determines the precise meaning of all that has reference to it, anyone who professes an erroneous faith, that is, schism or heresy, is also called ‘the ground’. At this point therefore ‘being driven from the face* of the ground’ means not being governed any longer by the truth of the Church.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 387 387. ‘Being hidden from Your face’* means being separated from all the good present in faith and flowing from love. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the face* of Jehovah’. As stated already, ‘the face of Jehovah’ means compassion, the source of all goods present in faith and flowing from love. For this reason every good accompanying faith is meant by ‘the face’* here.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 388 388. ‘Being a wanderer and a fugitive in the land’, as previously, means not knowing what truth and good are.

AC (Elliott) n. 389 389. ‘Everyone finding him would kill him’ means that all evil and falsity would destroy him. This follows from what is said above. The position in fact is this: When a person divests himself of charity, he in that case separates himself from the Lord. It is charity alone, or love towards the neighbour and compassion, which joins man to the Lord. Without charity the two are disjoined, and when they are disjoined man is left to himself, that is, to the proprium. In that case whatever he thinks is false, and whatever he wills is evil. These are the things that kill man, that is, lead to his having no life at all.

AC (Elliott) n. 390 390. People under the influence of falsity and evil live in constant fear of being killed, as is described in Moses,

And your land will be a desolation and your cities a waste. Among you who are left, I will introduce a softness into their heart, in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf will pursue them, and they will flee, like flight from the sword, and they will fall though no one is pursuing, and they will stumble each man over his brother, as though before the sword, though no one is pursuing. Lev. 26:33, 36, 37.

In Isaiah,

The treacherous act treacherously, and deal treacherously in the treachery of the treacherous. And he who is fleeing from the sound of the terror will fall into the pit. And he who is climbing out of the middle of the pit will be caught in the snare. His transgression will lie heavily upon him, and therefore he will fall and not rise again. Isa. 24:16-20.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, I am bringing a terror upon you. From all who are round about you you will be driven out, everyone straight before him,* and no one gathering the wanderer. Jer. 49:5.

In Isaiah,

We will flee upon a horse; and so will you flee. We will ride away on one that is swift; therefore those who pursue you will be made swift. One thousand at the rebuke of one, and at the rebuke of five will you flee. Isa. 30:16, 17.

These and other places in the Word describe how people who are under the influence of falsity and evil flee and are afraid of being killed. Fear above all else takes hold of them because no one is protecting them. Everyone who is under the influence of evil and falsity hates the neighbour. Consequently they all desire to kill one another.
* lit. everyone towards his faces

AC (Elliott) n. 391 391. The fact that people under the influence of falsity and evil are afraid of everybody else can be recognized best of all from evil spirits in the next life. Those who have divested themselves of all charity are wanderers and fugitives. If, wherever they go, they come to any communities, the people there perceive their character the moment they are approaching. The perceptivity existing in the next life is such that these communities not only drive those intruders away, but also punish them severely. Indeed their intention is to kill them if possible. So very great is the pleasure which the evil find in punishing and torturing one another that their greatest delight consists in doing so. And what is an arcanum still, the cause lies in falsity and evil themselves, for what anyone wishes upon another recoils upon himself. In fact falsity and evil carry within themselves the punishment of falsity and evil, and consequently the fear of punishment.

AC (Elliott) n. 392 392. Verse 15 And Jehovah said to him, Therefore anyone killing Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And Jehovah put a sign on Cain, lest anyone finding him should strike him. ‘Anyone killing Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold’ means that to violate faith thus separated was utterly forbidden. ‘Jehovah put a sign on Cain, lest anyone should strike him’ means that the Lord distinguished faith in a special way to ensure its preservation.

AC (Elliott) n. 393 393. Before any explanation is given of the meaning of these words in the internal sense the situation with faith needs to be known. The Most Ancient Church was such that it did not acknowledge any faith except that which derived from love. Indeed they were unwilling even to mention faith, for everything that was a matter of faith they perceived by means of love from the Lord. Such also by nature are celestial angels, spoken of already. But because it was foreseen that the human race would not be able to receive such, and that people would separate faith from love to the Lord and would construct out of faith a doctrine standing on its own, provision was also made for it to be separated. Nevertheless it was separated in such a way that by means of faith, that is, by means of cognitions of faith, people might receive charity from the Lord. Consequently the experience of coming to know, that is, of listening, would now come first, and then, through coming to know or listening, charity, that is, love to the neighbour and compassion, would be conferred on them by the Lord. This charity would be not only inseparable from faith but also its primary constituent. That which now took the place of the perception which had existed with the Most Ancient Church was conscience. Once conscience had been acquired by means of faith allied to charity, it then dictated not what things were true but the fact that they were true – true because the Lord has in the Word said they were. Of such a nature did the Churches after the Flood become, for the most part; such was the Primitive Church, that is, immediately after the Lord’s Coming. And this is the feature that distinguishes spiritual angels from celestial.

AC (Elliott) n. 394 394. Now because this was foreseen and provision was made that the human race should not perish in eternal death, it is here said that ‘nobody should do violence to Cain’, who means separated faith. It is also said that a sign was put on him’, that is, the Lord distinguished faith in a special way to ensure its preservation. These points are arcana which have not yet been disclosed. They are what the Lord meant in Matthew when He spoke about marriage and about eunuchs,

There are eunuchs who were born so from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God. He who is able to receive this let him receive it. Matt. 19:12.

People with whom the heavenly marriage exists are called ‘eunuchs’. ‘Eunuchs born from the womb’ are like celestial angels, ‘those made so by men’ are like spiritual angels, ‘those who have made themselves eunuchs’ are like angelic spirits, who are moved not so much by charity as by obedience.

AC (Elliott) n. 395 395. ‘Anyone killing Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold’ means that to violate faith thus separated was utterly forbidden. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Cain’ as separated faith, and from the meaning of ‘seven’ as utterly inviolable. As is well known, the number seven was considered holy on account of the six days of creation and of the seventh, which is the celestial man in whom peace, rest, and the Sabbath exist. This is the reason why the number seven occurs so many times in the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church, in every instance standing for that which is holy. It is also the reason why periods of time, long as well as short, were divided into seven, and were called weeks, as in the case of the long time intervals leading up to the time when the Messiah was to come, Dan. 9:24, 25. A period of seven years is also called a week by Laban and Jacob, Gen. 29:27, 28. Consequently wherever the number seven occurs it stands either for something holy or else for something utterly inviolable, as in David,

Seven times in the day I praise You. Ps. 119:164.

In Isaiah,

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. Isa. 30:26.

Here ‘the sun’ is love, and ‘the moon’ faith deriving from love, a faith which is to be as love.

[2] Just as the periods of man’s regeneration divide into six before he reaches the seventh, which is the celestial man, so also do the periods of vastation even until nothing celestial is left. This was represented by the many captivities of the Jews, and by the last of them, the Babylonian, which was a captivity of seven decades, that is, seventy years. And it was several times stated that the land had to rest during its Sabbaths. It was also represented by Nebuchadnezzar, of whom it is said in Daniel,

His heart will be changed from man, and the heart of a beast given him until seven times will pass over him. Dan. 4:16, 25, 32.

In reference to the vastation of the last times it is recorded in John,

I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful – seven angels holding the seven Rev. 15:1, 6, 7.

They will trample over the holy city for forty-two months (that is, six times seven). Rev. 11:2.

In the same book,

I saw a book [written] within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Rev. 5:1.

Severe and increased penalties were for the same reason expressed by the number seven, as in Moses,

If you will not obey Me in this matter, I will chastise you seven times worse for your sins. Lev. 26:18, 21, 24, 28.

In David,

Return to our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom. Ps. 79:12.

So then, it is because it was utterly forbidden to violate faith – since it had a use to serve, as has been stated – that the statement is made about ‘vengeance being taken sevenfold on him who killed Cain’.

AC (Elliott) n. 396 396. ‘Jehovah put a sign on Cain, lest anyone should strike him’ means that the Lord distinguished faith in a special way to ensure its preservation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a sign’ and of ‘putting a sign’ on somebody, which is a way of distinguishing him, as in Ezekiel,

Jehovah said, Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and make a sign on (or designate) the foreheads of the men (vir) who groan and sigh over all the abominations. Ezek. 9:4.

Here ‘designating foreheads’ does not mean putting a sign or stroke on their foreheads but a way of distinguishing from others. Something similar is said in John about men who did not have God’s sign on their foreheads being subject to condemnation, Rev. 9:4. Here again ‘having a sign’ stands for a way of distinguishing.

[2] In the same book this sign is also called ‘a mark’, where reference is made to placing a mark on the hand and on the forehead, Rev. 14:9. That which was meant by signs and marks the Jewish Church represented by binding the first and great commandment on to the hand and on to the forehead, a practice mentioned in Moses,

Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; you shall love Jehovah your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And you shall bind them as a sign on to your hand; and let them be as frontlets between your eyes. Deut. 6:4, 5, 8; 11:13, 18.

This represented the requirement to distinguish the commandment concerning love above all other commandments. This shows what making a sign on the hand and on the forehead means.

In Isaiah,

One is coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory, and I will set a sign among them. Isa. 66:18, 19.

And in David,

Look to me and have compassion on me; give Your strength to Your servant, and save the son of Your handmaid. Make a sign in me for what is good, and let those who hate me see and be put to shame. Ps. 86:16, 17.

From all these quotations it is now clear what ‘a sign’ means. Let nobody suppose therefore that some sign was put on a man called Cain, for the internal sense of the Word embodies matters altogether different from those of the sense of the letter.

AC (Elliott) n. 397 397. Verse 16 And Cain went out from the face* of Jehovah, and he dwelt in the land of Nod towards the east of Eden.

‘Cain went out from the face* of Jehovah’ means that he was separated from good present in faith and flowing from love. ‘He dwelt in the land of Nod’ means outside truth and good. ‘Towards the east of Eden’ is close to the understanding part of the mind, where love had reigned previously.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 398 398. ‘Going out from the face* of Jehovah’ means being separated from good present in faith and flowing from love – see what has been mentioned already at verse 14. ‘He dwelt in the land of Nod’ means outside truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of the name Nod, which is being a wanderer and a fugitive. As for a wanderer and a fugitive meaning someone who has been divested of truth and good, again see what has been mentioned already. ‘Towards the east of Eden’ means close to the understanding part of the mind, where love had reigned previously, and also close to the rational part, where charity had reigned previously. This is clear from what has been stated already about the meaning of ‘the east of Eden’, namely that ‘the east’ is the Lord and ‘Eden’ love. With members (vir) of the Most Ancient Church, the mind, consisting of will and understanding, was one. In fact the will was everything, and the understanding consequently part of that will, the reason being that no division existed between love which belongs to the will and faith which belongs to the understanding. For love was everything, and faith part of that love. But after faith had been separated from love, as happened with those called Cain, it was no longer the will that reigned. But because the understanding ruled in that mind instead of the will, that is, faith instead of love, it is said that ‘he dwelt towards the east of Eden’; for, as has just been stated, faith was distinguished in a special way. that is, ‘had a sign placed on it’, to preserve it for the use it still had to serve to the human race.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 399 399. Verse 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.

‘Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch’ means that this schism or heresy produced another from itself which was called ‘Enoch’. ‘A city that was built’ means every detail of doctrine and heresy arising out of it. It is because that schism or heresy was called Enoch that the statement is made about the name of the city being called after the name of his son Enoch.

AC (Elliott) n. 400 400. That ‘Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch’ that this schism or heresy produced another from itself follows plainly from the verses preceding this, as well as from the statement in verse 1 about Man and Eve his wife begetting Cain. What follow now therefore are similar conceptions and births – of the Church as well as of heresies – which men established as a genealogy, for this was how they were interrelated. From one established heresy many more are born.

AC (Elliott) n. 401 401. That this heresy and every aspect of doctrine or of heresy taught by it was called ‘Enoch’ is also clear to some extent from the name itself, which means instruction so started or begun.

AC (Elliott) n. 402 402. ‘A city that was built’ means all doctrinal or heretical teaching founded on that heresy. This is clear from the Word wherever the name of any city occurs. In the Word ‘city’ never means a city but something doctrinal or else something heretical. For angels are totally ignorant of what a city is or what the name of any city is. They never do nor can have any city in mind, for their ideas are of spiritual and celestial things, as shown already. Their perception is solely of what is meant spiritually by cities, and the names of them. For example, by the Holy City, which is also called the Holy Jerusalem, they understand nothing other than the Lord’s kingdom in general, or as it exists with each individual who has the Lord’s kingdom within him. And the city of Zion or Mount Zion they understand in a similar way, the latter being the celestial degree of faith, the former the spiritual.

[2] And the celestial and spiritual itself is also described by cities, palaces, houses, walls, the foundations of walls, ramparts, gates, bars, and by the temple at the centre, as in Ezek. 48, and in Rev. 21:15-end. In Rev. 21:2, 10, it is called ‘the Holy Jerusalem’; in Jer. 31:38 [‘the city for Jehovah’]; in David, Ps. 46:4, ‘the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High’; and in Ezek. 48:35, it is called ‘the city, Jehovah is there’. And in Isaiah,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls. They will bend down to the soles of your feet, all who disapprove of you, and they will call you the City of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 60:10, 14.

In Zechariah,

Jerusalem [will be called] the city of truth, and Mount Zion the mountain of holiness. Zech. 8:3

Here ‘city of truth’, which is Jerusalem, means the spiritual things of faith, and ‘the holy mountain’, which is Zion, the celestial things of faith. And whereas the celestial and spiritual things of faith were represented by a city, so all matters of doctrine were meant by the cities of Judah and Israel, each one, when mentioned by name, meaning some specific point of doctrine, though exactly which nobody can know except from the internal sense.

[3] As cities meant matters of doctrine, cities also meant heretical ideas, each one when mentioned by name meaning some specific heretical idea. But at this point solely the consideration that in general a city means doctrinal teaching or else heretical may be established from the following places:

[4] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lip of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. One of these will be called the city Heres. Isa. 19:18.

This refers to man’s knowledge of spiritual and celestial things at the time of the Lord’s Coming. In the same prophet,

Full of tumults, a tumultuous city, an exultant city. Isa. 22:1, 2.

This refers to ‘the valley of vision’, which is delusion. In Jeremiah,

The cities of the south are shut up, with none opening them. Jer. 13:10.

This refers to people who are in ‘the south’, that is, who dwell in the light of truth, but blot it out. In the same prophet,

Jehovah thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He causes rampart and wall to mourn; they have languished together. Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. Lam. 2:8, 9.

Here anyone may see that nothing else is meant by ‘wall, rampart, gates and bars’ than matters of doctrine.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

This song will be sung in the land of Judah, Ours is a strong city, salvation will establish walls and a rampart. Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isa. 26:1, 2.

In the same prophet,

I will exalt You, I will confess Your name. You have made the city into a heap, the fortified city into a ruin; let not a palace of aliens be built of the city for ever. Therefore a strong people will honour You, the city of terrifying nations will fear You. Isa. 25:1-3.

Nor does this refer to any actual city. In Balaam’s prophecy,

Edom will be an inheritance, and out of Jacob one will have dominion, and he will accomplish the destruction of the remnant of the city. Num. 24:18, 19.

Here anyone may see that ‘the city’ does not mean an actual city. In Isaiah,

The city of hollowness has been broken down, every house has been shut up so that none may enter in. There is an outcry in the streets over the wine. Isa. 24:10, 11.

Here ‘city of hollowness’ stands for hollowness of doctrine. In this and other places ‘streets’ means the things that constitute a city, namely falsities or truths. In John,

When the seventh angel poured out his bowl the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. Rev. 16:17, 19.

That ‘a great city’ means something heretical, as do ‘the cities of the nations’, may be clear to anyone. The explanation is also given in Rev. 17:18 that the great city means the woman whom John saw, ‘the woman’, as shown already, being a Church of that nature.

AC (Elliott) n. 403 403. From these quotations it is clear what ‘a city’ means. But because everything is put together as history, what else can people who are confined to the sense of the letter see than the idea that Cain built a city and called it Enoch? Yet even they from the sense of the letter must suppose that the earth was already populated, notwithstanding what is said about Cain being Adam’ s firstborn. The historical sequence of events implies this. But as stated already, it was the custom among the most ancient people to convert all things into representative types and then arrange them as history. And to them this was something supremely delightful. When they did this everything they saw was seemingly alive.

AC (Elliott) n. 404 404. Verse 18 And to Enoch was born Irad. And Irad beget Mehujael, and Mehujael beget Methushael, and Methushael beget Lamech.

All these names mean heresies which descended from the first of them, which was called ‘Cain’. But because nothing more is now extant than just the names of them there is no need to say anything further. Something could possibly be deduced from the derivations of the names – Irad, for example, means, He-goes-down-from-the-city,* that is, from the heresy called Enoch,and so on.
* Hebrew scholars today are uncertain of the meaning of the name “Irad.” The definition given here is arrived at by combining the noun ‘ir which means a “city” with yaradh which means “to go down.”

AC (Elliott) n. 405 405. Verse 19 And Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

‘Lamech’, who was sixth in the line of descent from Cain, means the vastation that exists when faith is no more. ‘Two wives’ means the rise of a new Church, ‘Adah’ being the mother of the celestial and spiritual features of that Church, ‘Zillah’ the mother of its natural features.

AC (Elliott) n. 406 406. ‘Lamech’ means vastation, that is, the fact that faith is no more. This becomes clear from verses 23, 24, below, which state that ‘he killed a man (vir) to his wounding, and a little one to his bruising’. At that point ‘man’ is used to mean faith, ‘a little one’ or little child to mean charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 407 407. It generally happens with the passage of time that the Church reaches a state when it retreats from true faith and at length ends up with no faith at all. And when faith is no more the Church is said to be vastated. This was what happened to the Most Ancient Church among those called Cainites. It was also what happened to the Ancient Church which came after the Flood, and to the Jewish Church too, which had been so vastated by the time of the Lord’s Coming that they did not even know anything about the Lord’s coming to save them, still less anything about faith in Him. It was what happened yet again to the Primitive Church – the Church established after the Lord’s Coming – which at the present time has been so vastated that there is not any faith there. Nevertheless some nucleus of the Church always remains, although those who have been vastated as to faith do not acknowledge that nucleus, as with the Most Ancient Church, a remnant of which remained up to and survived beyond the Flood. That remnant of the Church is called Noah.

AC (Elliott) n. 408 408. Once the Church has been so vastated that faith exists no longer a fresh start is made, that is, new light begins to shine, which in the Word is called ‘the morning’. The reason new light or the morning does not shine before the Church has been vastated is that the things constituting faith and charity have been mingled with things that are unholy, and as long as they are mingled no light or charity can possibly be introduced, for tares are ruining all the good seed. But once faith is no more, it is no longer possible for faith to be profaned, since people do not believe what is said. People who do not acknowledge and believe something but merely know it are, as stated already, incapable of profaning it. A similar situation exists at the present time in the case of Jews who, because they live among Christians, cannot help knowing that the Lord is acknowledged by Christians to be the Messiah whom they, the Jews, have been waiting for and are awaiting still. Yet they are incapable of profaning because they do not acknowledge and believe these matters. Nor, in a similar way, can Moslems and gentiles who have heard about the Lord do so. This was the reason why the Lord did not come into the world until the Jewish Church had ceased to acknowledge and believe anything.

AC (Elliott) n. 409 409. The same applied to the heresy called Cain, which was vastated with the passage of time, for it did, it is true, acknowledge love, yet it made faith the chief thing and set it above love. The heresies descending from Cain however gradually strayed even from this, and Lamech, who was the sixth in the line, went so far as to reject faith altogether. At this point new light or the morning began to dawn, and a new Church came into being which is here called ‘Adah and Zillah’, the names of the wives of Lamech. They are called the wives of Lamech, who was devoid of any faith, just as the internal and external Church among the Jews, who were also devoid of any faith, are in the Word called wives. The same was also represented by Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s two wives, Leah representing the external Church and Rachel the internal. These Churches, seemingly two, are nevertheless one, for a Church that is purely external or representative and lacks the internal is something completely idolatrous or dead, but the internal Church and the external together constitute one and the same Church, as Adah and Zillah do here. But because, like Lamech, Jacob, that is, the descendants of Jacob, were totally devoid of faith, the Church could not continue with them. Instead it was transferred to gentiles whose lives were not contrary to faith but were without knowledge. Rarely, if ever, does a Church remain with people who, once vastated, are in possession of truths. Instead it is transferred to those who know absolutely nothing about such truths, for such people embrace faith far more easily than the former do.

AC (Elliott) n. 410 410. There are two kinds of vastation. The first is the vastation of people who know yet do not wish to know, or who see yet do not wish to see, as was characteristic of the Jews, and is characteristic of Christians at the present time. The second is the vastation of people who neither know nor see anything because they have no knowledge, as was characteristic of gentiles in the past and still is characteristic of them today. When the final point of vastation is reached with those who know and yet do not wish to know, or who see and yet do not wish to see, a Church rises up anew, not however among the same people, but among others whom they call gentiles. This was what happened to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood, what happened to the Ancient Church after the Flood, and also what happened to the Jewish Church. The reason new light at that point starts to shine for the first time is, as has been stated, that it is then no longer possible for people to profane things that are revealed, since they do not acknowledge and believe that these are true.

AC (Elliott) n. 411 411. The Lord states many times in the Prophets that the final point of vastation must come before a new Church can arise. He there uses the term vastation for things which have regard to the celestial things of faith, and desolation for those which have regard to the spiritual things of faith. He also refers to consummation and destruction, as in Isa. 6:9, 11, 12; 24:1-end; 33:8 and following verses; 42:15-18; Jer. 25:1-end; Dan. 8:1-end; 9:24-end; Zeph. 1:1-end; Deut. 32:1-end; Rev. 15; 16; and following chapters.

AC (Elliott) n. 412 412. Verse 20 And Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of the tent-dweller and of cattle.

‘Adah’ means, as previously, the mother of the celestial and spiritual things of faith. ‘Jabal, the father of the tent-dweller and of cattle’ means doctrine concerning the holy things of love, and goods deriving from these, which are celestial.

AC (Elliott) n. 413 413. That ‘Adah’ means the mother of the celestial things of faith is clear from the fact that Jabal, her firstborn, is called ‘the father of the tent-dweller and of cattle’, which are celestial because they mean the holy things of love, and goods deriving from these.

AC (Elliott) n. 414 414. ‘Dwelling in a tent’ means the holiness of love. This is clear from the meaning of ‘tents’ in the Word, as in David,

O Jehovah, who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain! He who walks blameless and performs righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. Ps. 15:1, 2.

Here the holy things of love, which are ‘walking blameless and performing righteousness’ are described by ‘dwelling in a tent’ or ‘on the holy mountain’. In the same author,

Their line has gone out into all the earth, and their speech to the end of the world. In them He has set a tent for the sun. Ps. 19:4.

Here ‘sun’ stands for love. In the same author,

I will dwell in Your tent for ever, I will put my trust in the shelter of Your wings. Ps. 61:4

Here ‘tent’ stands for what is celestial, and ‘shelter of Your wings’ for what is spiritual deriving from it. In Isaiah,

In compassion a throne was established, and on it there sat in truthfulness in the tent of David, one who judges and who seeks judgement, and hastens in righteousness. Isa. 16:5

Here again ‘tent’ stands for the holiness of love, which the phrases judging judgement’ and ‘hastening in righteousness’ are used to describe. In the same prophet,

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feast. May your eyes see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent which is not moved. Isa. 33:10.

This refers to the heavenly Jerusalem.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I will bring back the captivity of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings. And the city will be built upon its mound. Jer. 30:18.

‘The captivity of the tents’ stands for the vastation of celestial things, that is, of holy things of love. In Amos,

On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen down, and I will close up their breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. Amos 9:11.

Here similarly ‘a tabernacle’ stands for celestial things and the holy things that go with them. In Jeremiah,

The whole land has been laid waste. Swiftly My tents have been laid waste, suddenly My curtains. Jer. 4:20.

And elsewhere in Jeremiah,

My tent has been laid waste, and all My cords torn away. My sons have gone away from Me, and they are not. There is no one stretching out My tent any more, and setting up My curtains. Jer. 10:20.

Here ‘tent’ stands for celestial things, ‘curtains’ and ‘cords’ for spiritual things deriving from them. In the same prophet,

They will seize their tents and flocks, their curtains and all their vessels, and take away the camels for themselves. Jer. 49:29

This refers to Arabia and the sons of the east, who represent people who are in possession of celestial things, that is, things that are holy. In the same prophet,

The Lord has poured out His fierce anger like fire on the tent of the daughter of Zion. Lam. 2:4.

This stands for the vastation of the celestial or holy things of faith.

[3] The reason ‘a tent’ stands in the Word for the celestial or holy things of love is that in ancient times people carried out holy worship, each within his own tent. When however they started to render their tents unholy by profane acts of worship the Tabernacle was built, and later on the Temple. Consequently that which ‘the Tabernacle’ meant, and later on ‘the Temple’, was also what ‘tents’ meant. And someone who was holy was therefore called a tent, also a tabernacle, and the Lord’s temple as well. That ‘tent’, ‘tabernacle’, and ‘temple’ all have the same meaning is clear in David,

One thing have I sought from Jehovah, that will I ask for, that I may remain in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold Jehovah in His beauty, and visit Him every morning in His temple. For He will shelter me in His tabernacle on the day of evil. He will hide me in the hiding-place of His tent, He will lift me up upon a rock and now my head will be lifted up against my enemies round about me, and I will sacrifice in His tent the sacrifices of shouts of joy. Ps. 27:4-6.

[4] In the highest sense it is the Lord as regards His Human Essence who is the Tent, the Tabernacle, and the Temple. And every one who is celestial is consequently referred to in the same way, as well as every thing which is celestial and holy. Now because the Most Ancient Church was the Lord’s beloved more than the Churches that followed, and because in those times people used to live independently, that is, each within his own family, celebrating holy worship each in his own tent, tents were consequently considered to be more holy than the temple which had been profaned. To remind people of this point the Feast of Tabernacles was therefore instituted when they had to gather in the produce of the earth. During this feast they were required to live in tabernacles as the most ancient people had done, Lev. 23:39-44; Deut. 16:13; Hosea 12:9.

AC (Elliott) n. 415 415. ‘Father of cattle’ means good deriving from these, that is, from the holy things of love. This becomes clear from what has been shown already at verse 2 of this chapter, to the effect that ‘a shepherd of the flock’ means good that stems from charity. In the present verse, however, ‘father’ is used instead of shepherd, and ‘cattle’ instead of flock, with the words ‘and of cattle’, whose father he was, standing immediately after the word ‘tent’, from which it is clear that good stemming from the holiness of love is meant. And whether the dwelling-place, which was ‘a cattle-fold’, or ‘father of those who dwelt in tent and cattle-folds’ is understood here, goods stemming from the celestial things of love are meant, as is also clear from various parts of the Word, as in Jeremiah,

I will gather the remnant of My flock from all lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their folds to give birth and multiply. Jer. 13:3.

In Ezekiel,

I will pasture them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel; there they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will pasture on the mountains of Israel. Ezek. 34:14.

Here ‘folds’ and ‘pastures’, referred to as ‘fat’, stand for goods that stem from love.

[2] In Isaiah,

He will give rain for your seed with which you will sow the ground; and bread, the produce of the ground, will be fat and full of it. On that day He will pasture your cattle in a broad grassland. Isa. 30:23.

Here ‘bread’ means that which is celestial, and ‘fat on which they will pasture their flocks’ goods stemming from that which is celestial. In Jeremiah,

Jehovah has redeemed Jacob; and they will come and sing on the height of Zion, and they will converge on the goodness of Jehovah, for the wheat, and the new wine, and the oil, for the young* of the flock and of the herd. And their life** will be like a watered garden. Jer 31:11, 12.

Here the Holy of Jehovah is described by ‘the wheat and oil’, and goods deriving from it by ‘the new wine and by the young’ of the flock and of the herd’, or cattle. In the same prophet,

Shepherds and their flocks of cattle will come against the daughter of Zion, they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will pasture, each in his own space. Jer. 6:3.

‘The daughter of Zion’ stands for the celestial Church, to which both ‘tents’ and ‘flocks of cattle’ have reference.
* lit. the sons
** lit. soul

AC (Elliott) n. 416 416. That the holy things of love and the goods deriving from them are meant becomes clear also from the fact that Jabal was not the first tent and cattle-fold dweller, for Abel as well, the second son of Man (Homo) and Eve, is said to have been ‘a shepherd of the flock’. And Jabal stands seventh in the line of descent from Cain.

AC (Elliott) n. 417 417. Verse 21 And his brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all who play upon the harp and organ.

‘His brother’s name was Jubal’ means doctrine concerning the spiritual things of this same Church, and ‘the father of all who play upon the harp and organ’ the truths and goods of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 418 418. The previous verse deals with celestial things, which are the attributes of love, the present verse with spiritual things, which are the attributes of faith. These spiritual things are portrayed as ‘the harp and organ’. That stringed instruments, such as harps and others like them, meant the spiritual things of faith is clear from many points of view. In the worship of the representative Church instruments like these, and the singing likewise, had no other representation. This was why there were so many singers and musicians, the main reason for such representation being that all heavenly joy produces gladness of heart, which was expressed by means of singing, and subsequently by means of stringed instruments that strove to match the singing and uplifted it. Every affection of the heart also has this capacity to produce singing and therefore the things which go with singing. Affection of the heart is something celestial, singing issuing from it something spiritual.

[2] That singing and the like means that which is spiritual has also become clear to me from angelic choirs, of which there are two kinds, celestial and spiritual. From the vibrant quality of their singing, to which the sound of stringed instruments may be likened, spiritual choirs are readily distinguished from celestial choirs. This will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. What is more, the most ancient people related that which was celestial to the province of the heart, and that which was spiritual to the province of the lungs. In so doing they related that which was spiritual to whatever involved the lungs, such as singing voices and other similar things, and so to the voices or sounds of such instruments. The reason for their so relating them was not only that the heart and lungs represent a kind of marriage, like that of love and faith, but also that celestial angels belong to the province of the heart whereas spiritual angels belong to that of the lungs. It can also be recognized that such considerations are meant here from the fact that this is the Word of the Lord, which would contain no life at all if its message were merely that Jubal was the father of those who play on harp and organ. Nor would any use be served in anyone’s knowing it.

AC (Elliott) n. 419 419. Just as celestial things are the holy things of love and the goods deriving from it, so spiritual things are the truths and goods of faith, for faith does indeed entail understanding not only what is true but also what is good. Cognitions of faith embrace them both; but being such as faith teaches is something celestial. Because faith embraces both, both are meant by the two instruments, the harp and the organ. The harp, as is well known, is a stringed instrument, and so means spiritual truth, while the organ, being an instrument midway between a stringed instrument and one that is blown, means spiritual good.

AC (Elliott) n. 420 420. Various types of instruments are mentioned in the Word, each one having its own particular meaning, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown when they occur. For the present let just the following in David be quoted,

I will sacrifice in the tent of Jehovah the sacrifices of shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to Jehovah. Ps. 27:6.

Here ‘tent’ is used to express that which is celestial, and ‘shouts of joy’, ‘singing’, and ‘making melody’ that which is spiritual deriving from it. In the same author,

Sing to Jehovah, O you righteous! His praise befits upright men. Confess Jehovah with the harp, make melody to Him on a ten-stringed lyre. Sing to Him a new song, play skillfully with a loud note, for the word of Jehovah is upright, and all His work is done in truth. Ps. 33:1-4.

This stands for truths of faith, to which these commands have reference.

[2] Spiritual things, which are the truths and goods of faith, were extolled by means of the harp, ten-stringed lyres, singing, and the like, whereas the holy or celestial things of faith were praised by means of wind instruments, such as trumpets and others like them. This explains why so many instruments were used around the Temple, for so often particular instruments were needed to celebrate this occasion or that. As a consequence those instruments came to mean the actual things in praise of which they were used.

[3] In the same author,

I will confess to You on a ten-stringed instrument, Your truth, O my God. I will make melody to You with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will sing when I make melody to You; and my soul which You have redeemed. Ps. 71:22, 13.

This similarly refers to the truths of faith. In the same author,

Reply to Jehovah with confession; make melody to our God with the harp. Ps. 147:7.

Here ‘confession’ has regard to the celestial things of faith, which is why the name ‘Jehovah’ is used, while ‘making melody with the harp’ has regard to the spiritual things of faith, which is why the name ‘God’ is used. In the same author,

Let them praise the name of Jehovah with dancing; with timbrel and harp let them make melody to Him. Ps. 149:3.

‘Timbrel’ stands for the good and ‘harp’ for the truth which they are praising.

[4] In the same author,

Praise God with trumpet-sound; praise Him with a ten-stringed lyre and with a harp, praise Him with timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organs, praise and Him with sounding cymbals* praise Him with high-sounding cymbals.** Ps 150:3-5.

These stand for the goods and truths of faith, which occasion praise. Let no one think that so many instruments are mentioned by name without each one having some particular meaning. In the same author,

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwellings. Then I will go in to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will confess You with the harp, O God, my God. Ps. 43:3, 4.

This stands for cognitions of good and truth.

[5] In Isaiah,

Take a harp, encompass the city, strike a good note, increase your song, that you may be called to memory. Isa. 23:16.

This stands for matters of faith and cognitions of faith. The point is plainer still in John,

The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Rev. 5:8.

‘Harps’ being held is not the meaning, as may be clear to anyone. Instead the truths of faith are meant by ‘harps’, and the goods of faith by ‘golden bowls full of incense’. In David sounds made on instruments are referred to as ‘praises and confessions’, in Ps. 42:4; 69:70. And elsewhere in John,

I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters. I heard the sound of harpers playing on their harps. They were singing a new song. Rev. 14:2, 3.

And elsewhere in the same book,

I saw them standing beside the sea of glass holding harps of God. Rev. 15:2.

It deserves to be mentioned that angels and spirits distinguish sounds on the basis of the differences that exist with good and truth. This applies not only to the sounds made by singing and instruments, but also to those made by voices. They do not entertain any sounds other than those that are accordant, so that there may be an accordance of the sounds, and therefore of the instruments, with the very nature and essence of good and truth.
* lit. cymbals of hearing
** lit. cymbals of shouting

AC (Elliott) n. 421 421. Verse 22 And Zillah also, she gave birth to Tubal-cain, teacher of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah. ‘Zillah’, as has been stated, means the mother of the natural features of the new Church. ‘Tubal-cain, a teacher of every craftsman in bronze and iron’ means the doctrine of natural good and truth; ‘bronze’ means natural good, ‘iron’ natural truth. ‘Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah’ means another Church or doctrine of natural good and truth, which though similar was not an integral part of that Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 422 422. What this new Church was like becomes clear from the Jewish Church, which was both internal and external. The internal Church consisted of celestial and spiritual things, the external of natural. The internal Church was represented by Rachel, the external by Leah. Now because Jacob, that is, descendants of Jacob who are meant in the Word by his name, were such as desired external things only, that is, worship exclusively external, Leah was given to Jacob before Rachel. The weak-eyed Leah represented the Jewish Church, and Rachel a new Church consisting of gentiles. This is why in the Prophets Jacob takes on either meaning, the first when the corrupt Jewish Church is the subject, the second when it is the true external Church consisting of gentiles. When the subject is the internal Church he is called Israel. These points will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be explained later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 423 423. Tubal-cain is called ‘a teacher of every craftsman’ but not ‘a father’ as Jabal and Jubal have been. The reason is that celestial and spiritual, or internal, things did not exist previously. Those two are called fathers because those things first existed at that point, whereas natural or external things did exist previously, though now allied to internal things. Therefore he is not called ‘a father’ but ‘a teacher of craftsmen’.

AC (Elliott) n. 424 424. ‘A craftsman’ in the Word means a person who has wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. Here ‘a craftsman in bronze and iron’ means people who have a knowledge of natural good and truth. In John,

Babylon the great city will be thrown down with violence and will be found no more; and the sound of harpers, and minstrels, and flute players, and trumpeters will be heard in you* no more. And every craftsman of every craft will be found in you* no more. Rev. 18:21, 22.

As previously, ‘harpers’ stands for truths, ‘trumpeters’ for the goods of faith. A ‘craftsman of every craft’ stands for one who has knowledge, that is, knowledge of truth and good. In Isaiah,

The craftsman casts an idol, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it. He seeks for himself a wise craftsman to make ready an idol, that is immovable. Isa. 40:19, 20.

This stands for people who fabricate falsity – an idol – for themselves out of delusions and teach it in such a way that it looks like truth. In Jeremiah,

They are at one and the same time foolish and stupid; that wood is a way of learning vanities! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, gold from Uphaz; the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the moulder. Their clothing is violet and [purple]. These are all the work of the wise. Jer. 10:3, 8, 9.

These statements mean the person who teaches falsities and who compiles material from the Word to produce some figment of the imagination. This is why it is called ‘a way of learning vanities’ and the ‘work of the wise’. In the past such people were represented as craftsmen fashioning idols (falsities) which they decorated with ‘gold’ (imitation good) and with ‘silver’ (imitation truth) and with ‘violet and [purple] clothing’ (natural things which are seemingly in agreement).
* The Latin here means in it but at Rev. 18:22 in AE and AR it means in you in accord with the original Greek.

AC (Elliott) n. 425 425. Up to now the world has not known that ‘bronze’ means natural good, nor indeed that every metal mentioned in the Word has some definite meaning in the internal sense. For example ‘gold’ means celestial good, ‘silver’ spiritual truth, ‘bronze’ natural good, ‘iron’ natural truth, and so on with all the rest. The same applies to stone and wood. These were the meanings of the gold, silver, bronze, and wood in the Ark and the Tabernacle, and of similar objects in the Temple, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on. In the Prophets it is plain that such things are meant, as in Isaiah,

You will suck the milk of nations, and the breast of kings will you suck. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron, I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead or stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isa. 60:16, 17.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord and to His kingdom, and to the celestial Church. ‘Gold instead of bronze’ means celestial good instead of natural good. ‘Silver instead of iron’ means spiritual truth instead of natural truth. ‘Bronze instead of wood’ means natural good instead of bodily good. ‘Iron instead of stones’ means natural truth instead of sensory truth. In Ezekiel,

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your merchants in the souls of men, and they gave vessels of bronze for your merchandise. Ezek. 27:13

This refers to Tyre, which means people who are in possession of spiritual and celestial riches. ‘Vessels of bronze’ stands for natural goods. In Moses,

A land whose stones are Iron, and from whose mountains you will dig out bronze. Deut. 8:9.

Here similarly ‘stones’ stands for sensory truth, ‘iron’ for natural or rational truth, and ‘bronze’ for natural good. In the cases of the four living creatures or the cherubim seen by Ezekiel, whose feet sparkled like burnished bronze, Ezek. 1:7, ‘bronze’ in a similar way means natural good, for the human foot represents that which is natural. Something similar was seen by Daniel,

A man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz and whose body was like tarshish.* His arms and feet were like the appearance of burnished bronze. Dan. 10:5, 6

And for the fact that the bronze serpent mentioned in Num. 21:9 represented the Lord’s good, sensory and natural, see what has been said already [in 197].
* A Hebrew word for a particular kind of precious stone, possibly a beryl.

AC (Elliott) n. 426 426. As regards ‘iron’ meaning natural truth, this is clear from the
places quoted already, and from the following as well: In Ezekiel in reference to Tyre,

Tarshish was your trader because of the vastness of all your wealth – in silver, iron, tin, and lead they provided Your wares. Dan and Javan, and Meusal, exchanged wrought iron in your tradings; cassia and calamus were in your market. Ezek. 27:12, 19.

From these verses, and from those before and after them in the same chapter, it is quite clear that celestial and spiritual riches are meant. Each commodity, and also each name mentioned there, has some specific meaning, for the Word of the Lord is spiritual and not just verbal in content.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Can one smash iron, iron from the north, and bronze? Your resources and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, even for all your sins. Jer. 15:12, 13.

Here ‘iron’ and ‘bronze’ stand for natural truth and good. ‘That which comes from the north’ means that which is sensory and natural, for natural in comparison with spiritual and celestial is as thick darkness or the north to light or the south. The natural also resembles shade, which is also the meaning here of ‘Zillah’ who was the mother. It is also quite plain that ‘resources and treasures’ are celestial and spiritual riches.

[3] In Ezekiel,

Take an iron pan and place it as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face* towards it, and let it be in a state of siege, and oppress it. Ezek. 4:3.

Here too it is clear that ‘iron’ means truth. Great strength is attributed to truth because nothing is able to withstand it. This in addition is why iron, which means truth, that is, the truth of faith, is referred to as smashing and crushing to pieces, as in Dan. 2:33, 40. And in John,

He who overcomes, to him will I give power over the nations to rule** them with an iron rod as when earthen pots are broken in pieces. Rev. 2:26, 27.

In the same author,

The woman gave birth to a male child, who was to rule** all nations with an iron rod. Rev. 12:5.

[4] The explanation appears in John that an ‘iron rod’ means truth which belongs to the Word of the Lord,

I saw heaven opened, when behold, a white horse! And He who sat upon it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and fights. He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. From His mouth issues a sharp sword, and with it He will smite the nations, and will rule** them with an iron rod. Rev. 19, 11, 13, 15.
* lit. faces
** lit. pasture

AC (Elliott) n. 427 427. Verse 23 And Lamech told his wives Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, O wives of Lamech, and with your ears perceive my speech that I have killed a man (vir) to my wounding, and a little one to my bruising. ‘Lamech’, as previously, means vastation. ‘He told his wives Adah and Zillah to perceive with their ears his speech’ means confession such as is not otherwise made except where a Church exists, which, as has been stated, is meant by his wives.’ He killed a man to his own wounding means that he annihilated faith, a man’ meaning faith, as previously. ‘A little one to his bruising’ means that he annihilated charity. ‘Wound’ and ‘bruise’ mean a condition that was no longer sound, ‘wound’ meaning that faith had been desolated, and ‘bruise’ that charity had been laid waste.

AC (Elliott) n. 428 428. From the statements made in this verse and from those in the next it is quite clear that ‘Lamech’ means vastation, for he says that he has killed a man and a little one, and that Cain will be avenged sevenfold and Lamech seventy-sevenfold.

AC (Elliott) n. 429 429. That ‘a man’ (vir) means faith is clear from the first verse of this chapter where Eve said, after giving birth to Cain, ‘I have gained a man, Jehovah’, by which is meant the doctrine of faith, called ‘a man, Jehovah’. It is also clear from what has been shown already about ‘a man’ (vir) meaning the understanding, to which faith belongs. From this it is clear that he also annihilated charity, which is called ‘a little one’, that is, a little child, for anyone who denies, or murders, faith at the same time denies and murders charity to which faith gives birth.

AC (Elliott) n. 430 430. ‘A little one’ or little child in the Word means innocence, and also charity, for true innocence does not exist without charity, nor true charity without innocence. There are three degrees of innocence, which are distinguished in the Word as sucklings, infants, and little children. And because true innocence cannot exist without true love and charity these same three, sucklings, infants, and little children, also mean three degrees of love, which are the tender love which is like that of a suckling for mother or nursemaid; the love which is like that of an infant for parents; and charity which is like a little child’s attitude towards its teacher; as in Isaiah,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child will lead them. Isa 11:6.

Here ‘lamb’, ‘kid’, and ‘calf’ stand for the three degrees of innocence and of love, ‘wolf’, ‘leopard’, and ‘young lion’ for their opposites. ‘A little child’ stands for charity.

[2] In Jeremiah,

You commit great evil against your own souls by cutting off from you man (vir) and wife, infant and suckling from the midst of Judah, not leaving you a remnant. Jer. 44:7.

‘Man and wife’ stands for things connected with the understanding of truth and with the will for good. ‘Infant and suckling’ stands for the initial degrees of love. That ‘infant’ and ‘little child’ mean innocence and charity is quite clear from the Lord’s words in Luke,

They brought infants to Jesus that He might touch them. He said, Let the little ones come to Me and do not hinder them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Luke 18:15-17.

Being innocence itself and Love itself the Lord Himself is called a Little One or Little Child in Isa. 9:6, where He is also referred to as Wonderful, Counsellor, God, the Mighty One, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

AC (Elliott) n. 431 431. ‘Wound’ and ‘bruise’ mean a condition that was no longer sound, ‘wound’ in particular meaning ‘bruise’ charity that had been laid waste. This is clear from the fact that wound has reference to ‘a man’ and bruise to ‘a little one’. The same words are used in Isaiah to describe the desolation of faith and the laying waste of charity,

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but a wound, bruising, and running sores. They are not pressed out, nor bound up, nor softened with oil. Isa. 1:6.

Here ‘wound’ has reference to faith which had been desolated, ‘bruise’ to charity that had been laid waste, and ‘sores’ to both.

AC (Elliott) n. 432 432. Verse 24 For sevenfold will Cain be avenged, and Lamech seventy-sevenfold.

This means that men annihilated the faith meant by ‘Cain’, which it was utterly forbidden to violate; that at the same time they annihilated charity, which born by means of faith, something even more inviolable; and that on account of this, condemnation followed, which is ‘being avenged seventy-sevenfold’.

AC (Elliott) n. 433 433. ‘Cain’s being avenged sevenfold’ means that it was utterly forbidden to violate separated faith meant by Cain. See what has been shown at verse 15. ‘Seventy-sevenfold’ means that it was something even more inviolable on account of which condemnation follows the number seven is a holy number is that the seventh day means the celestial man, the celestial Church, the celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself. Consequently whenever the number seven occurs in the Word it means that which is holy or utterly inviolable. And this holiness or inviolability has reference to, or else is determined by, the subject being dealt with. The same applies to the meaning of the number seventy consisting of seven ages (saecule),* for in the Word an age (saeculum) is a span of ten years. When anything extremely holy or utterly inviolable needed to be expressed people used the phrase ‘seventy-sevenfold’, as the Lord did, when He said that people were to forgive their brother not seven times but seventy times seven, Matt. 18:21, 22. By this He meant that they were to forgive as often as he sinned. Their forgiveness was to know no limits, that is, was to be eternal and timeless, which is holy. In the present instance his being avenged seventy-sevenfold means condemnation, for it was utterly and completely forbidden to violate.
* Although saeculum is defined here as a decade it may also be used to mean a century or other longer period.

AC (Elliott) n. 434 434. Verse 25 And the man (homo) knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and she called his name Seth – for God has appointed me another seed in place of Abel, seeing that Cain had killed him.

‘The man’ and ‘his wife’ are here used to mean the new Church which earlier on was meant by ‘Adah and Zillah’. ‘Her son whose name she called Seth’ means new faith, through which charity may be received ‘God has appointed another seed in place of Abel, seeing that Cain had killed him’ means that charity, which Cain separated and annihilated, was now conferred on this Church by the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 435 435. As regards ‘the man and his wife’ here being used to mean the new Church which earlier on was meant by ‘Adah and Zillah’, this nobody can know or deduce from the sense of the letter, for previously ‘the man (homo) and his wife’ meant the Most Ancient Church and its descendants. The point is clear however from the internal sense, and also from the fact that a little further on, in verses 3 and 4 of the next chapter, reference is again made, though the wording is entirely different, to the man and his wife begetting Seth. At that point the first generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church is meant. Unless something different were meant at this point there would be no need to say the same thing again. A parallel to this exists in Chapter 1, where the subject is the creation of man, and also of the fruits of the earth, and of beasts; followed by Chapter 2, where similar events are described, the reason for the similarity being, as has been stated, that Chapter 1 deals with the creation of the spiritual man, Chapter 2 with the creation of the celestial man. When this kind of repetition of one and the same person or thing occurs, something different is meant on the first occasion from the second. But the exact meaning cannot possibly be known except from the internal sense. The actual train of thought in like manner establishes the meaning here. And there is the added consideration that ‘man and wife’ is a general expression meaning that Church, which is the subject here and from which the new Church was born.

AC (Elliott) n. 436 436. ‘Her son whose name she called Seth’ means new faith, through which charity may be received. This is clear from what has been stated already and also from where Cain is spoken of as having ‘a sign placed on him lest anyone should kill him’. In the present context the meaning is this: Faith separated from love was meant by ‘Cain’, charity by ‘Abel’. The annihilation of charity by separated faith was meant by Cain’s killing Abel, and the preservation of faith, for the reason that through it charity could be implanted by the Lord, was meant by the statement about ‘Jehovah putting a sign on Cain lest anyone should kill him’. After that, the Lord’s conferment, through faith, of the holiness of love, and of good deriving from it, was meant by ‘Jabal whom Adah bore’; and the conferment of the spiritual manifestation of faith by ‘his brother Jubal’; and the existence of natural good and truth from these is meant by ‘Tubal-cain whom Zillah bore’. These two verses conclude and so summarize all these matters; ‘the man and his wife’ means that new Church which was earlier on called Adah and Zillah, while Seth means faith through which charity is implanted. In the next verse Enosh means charity that has been implanted through faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 437 437. Here ‘Seth’ means new faith, by way of which comes charity. This is explained by his very name, which he received because ‘God has appointed another seed in place of Abel, seeing that Cain had killed him’. ‘God has appointed another seed’ means that the Lord conferred another faith. ‘Another seed’ is faith by way of which charity may be received. That ‘seed’ means faith, see what has been stated already in 255.

AC (Elliott) n. 438 438. Verse 26 And to Seth also was born a son, and he called his name Enosh; then they began to call on the name of Jehovah.

‘Seth’, as has been stated, means faith through which charity may be received. ‘His son whose name was Enosh’ means a Church which considered charity to be the primary element of faith. ‘Then they began to call on the name of Jehovah’ means that Church’s worship deriving from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 439 439. That ‘Seth’ means faith through which charity may be received was shown in the previous verse. ‘His son whose name was Enosh’ means a Church which considered charity to be the primary element of faith. This too is clear from what has been stated already, and also from the fact that he was called Enosh, another name which means man (homo), not the celestial man however but the truly human spiritual man, meant here by Enosh. And this is also clear from the statement immediately following about their beginning to call on the name of Jehovah.

AC (Elliott) n. 440 440. ‘Then they began to call on the name of Jehovah’ means that Church’s worship deriving from charity. This becomes clear from the fact that ‘calling on the name of Jehovah’ is a normal and common expression for all worship of the Lord. Its being worship deriving from charity is clear from the fact that the name, Jehovah’ is used here, ‘God’ in the previous verse. It is also clear from the fact that it is impossible to worship the Lord except from charity. Worship stemming from faith that has no connection with charity is not possible, because it is worship solely of the lips and not of the heart. The fact that ‘calling on the name of Jehovah’ is a common expression for all worship of the Lord is clear from the Word, as where it is said of Abram that

He built an altar to Jehovah and called on the name of Jehovah. Gen. 12:8; 13:4.

Also,

He planted a grove in Beersheba and there he called on the name of Jehovah, the God of eternity. Gen. 21:33.

That all worship is meant is clear in Isaiah,

Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, said, You did not call or Me, O Jacob, but you have been weary of Me, O Israel! You have not brought Me the small cattle of your burnt offerings, nor honoured Me with your sacrifices. I have not made you serve Me with the minchah, nor wearied you with frankincense. Isa. 43:14, 22, 23.

These verses present in summary form the whole of representative worship.

AC (Elliott) n. 441 441. The fact that this was not the point at which people first started to call on the name of Jehovah is quite clear from what appears in preceding sections about the Most Ancient Church, which excelled all other Churches in its adoration and worship of the Lord, and also from Abel’ s bringing a gift from the firstborn of the flock. At the present point therefore nothing else is meant by ‘calling on the name of Jehovah’ than the worship of a new Church, after the previous Church had been annihilated by those who are called Cain and later on Lamech.

AC (Elliott) n. 442 442. From all that has been shown in this chapter it is evident that during the most ancient period there were several doctrinal systems separated from the Church, and heresies too, each one of them having a name of its own. These separated doctrinal systems and heresies were far more profound in their thought than any today, because people’s innate disposition was such at that time.

AC (Elliott) n. 443 443. SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT CERTAIN SPIRITS HAD THOUGHT DURING THEIR LIFETIME ABOUT THE SOUL OR SPIRIT

In the next life one is enabled to have a clear perception of the opinions which people have held during their lifetime about the soul, about the spirit, and about life after death; for when they are kept in a state as though they were still in the body their thought is similar to what it had been in the body. And such thought is communicated just as plainly as if they uttered it aloud. On one occasion I perceived from someone who had departed the earthly life only a little while before that – as he himself admitted – he had indeed believed in the existence of the spirit, but that as a spirit he would be leading a shadowy existence. His reason far believing this was that if the life of the body were withdrawn nothing would be left apart from something shadowy. Indeed he focused life in the body; consequently his idea of the spirit was of a phantom. And he confirmed this idea in himself from seeing that animals also possessed life that was virtually the same as human beings. Now however he was amazed to see that spirits and angels dwelt in the greatest light, and in the greatest intelligence, wisdom, and happiness, accompanied by perception such as almost defied description. So their life is very far from being shadowy, but is bright and very clearly discernible.

AC (Elliott) n. 444 444. On one occasion I spoke to someone who when he lived in the world believed that the spirit was undimensional. In making this assumption he refused to entertain any term which included dimensional connotations. I asked him what he now felt about himself, considering that he was a soul or spirit, who possessed sight, hearing, smell, a perfect sense of touch, desires, thought, insomuch that he supposed himself to be just as if still in the flesh. He was restricted to the ideas that he had had when thinking in this manner in the world, and said that the spirit was thought. But I was allowed to reply that having lived in the world, did he not know that bodily sight was impossible without an organ of sight, the eye? What then of inner sight, which is thought? Did this not possess some organic substance through which it functioned? At this point he admitted that during his lifetime he had been labouring under the delusion of supposing that the spirit was simply thought devoid of anything organic or dimensional. I went on to say that if the soul or spirit were simply thought, man had no need of so large a brain, seeing that the whole brain serves as the organ of the inner senses. If it were not so, the skull could be an empty hollow and thought could still play the part of the spirit within it. From this one consideration, as well as from the activity of the soul into the muscles causing so many movements, it ought to have been clear to him that the spirit was organic, that is, was organic substance. Once he had heard this he admitted his mistake and was amazed that he had been so stupid.

AC (Elliott) n. 445 445. I have in addition been told that learned people believe no more than this, that the soul, which will live on after death – or the spirit – is abstract thought. This is quite evident from the fact that they refuse to entertain any term implying that which is dimensional, or things of a dimensional nature, the reason being that thought isolated from a subject is undimensional, whereas both the subject and the object of thought are dimensional. And to comprehend objects which are not dimensional, people set boundaries to them and make them dimensional. From this it is quite clear that learned people conceive of the soul or spirit as being nothing other than thought alone. That being so they are incapable of believing otherwise than that when they die the soul will fade away.

AC (Elliott) n. 446 446. I have spoken to spirits about the opinion held by people living at the present time, namely that they do not believe in the existence of the spirit because they neither see it with their eyes nor comprehend it through natural science. Consequently they not only deny that the spirit is dimensional, but also that it is a substance, for they disagree over what substance is. And because they deny that the spirit is dimensional and disagree about what substance is, they also deny that the spirit exists within anything spatial, and so deny its existence within the human body. Yet even a very simple person is able to know that his soul or spirit resides within his body. When I commented on this, spirits of a more simple type were amazed that men nowadays could be so stupid; and when they heard about the technical terms which men argue about such as parts outside parts, and the like, they called such things absurd, ludicrous, and farcical, which ought never to be in people’s minds at all since they block the road to real understanding.

AC (Elliott) n. 447 447. Someone who had recently become a spirit spoke to me, and when he heard that I was talking about the spirit, said, ‘What is a spirit?’ For he thought that he was still a man. I told him that a spirit exists within each person, and that this spirit is the life within him, with the body something subservient which enables him to live on earth. In themselves flesh and bones, or the body, I said, have no life or thought. Seeing him bewildered by this I asked whether he had ever heard about the soul. He replied, ‘What is a soul? I do not know what a soul is’. At this point I was allowed to tell him that he himself was now a soul or spirit, and that he could be aware of this from the fact that he was up above my head, and not standing on the earth. Was he unable to perceive this? At this point he led in terror, shouting out, ‘I am a spirit, I am a spirit!’

There was a certain Jew who supposed that he was still living in the body, so much so that he could scarcely be made to believe anything different. And when he was shown that he was a spirit, he still insisted, because he could see and hear, that he was a man. This is what people are like who in the world have been bodily-minded. Many more examples could be included, but they would serve only to confirm the point that it is the spirit in man to which sensation belongs, not the body.

AC (Elliott) n. 448 448. I have spoken to many people whom I had known during their lifetime, and have done so for considerable lengths of time, for months or a year. I have spoken in as clear a voice, though an internal one, as when speaking to friends in the world. Conversation with them has included the subject of man’s condition after death. They have been utterly amazed that nobody in the life of the body knows or believes that when his bodily life ends he will be alive even as they are now. Yet there is a continuation of life such as involves passing from an obscure life into a clear life, and with people who have had faith in the Lord, passing into life that is more and more clear. They wished me to tell their friends that they were alive, and to write to them telling of their condition, just as I had reported to them also many things about the state of their friends. I said however that if I did speak or write to their friends these would not believe me. They would call it sheer imagination, they would laugh me to scorn, they would ask for signs or miracles before believing, and so I would expose myself to their derision. Few would probably have would expose believed that what I said was true, for in their hearts they deny that spirits exist; and those who do not deny their existence nevertheless refuse to hear of anybody being able to talk to spirits. In ancient times such disbelief concerning spirits never existed, but nowadays they wish to discover what spirits may be by a crack-brained reasoning involving definitions and presuppositions that deprives spirits of every one of the senses. And the more learned that people wish to be, the more they continue in this way.

AC (Elliott) n. 449 449. HEAVEN AND HEAVENLY JOY
Up to now nobody has known what heaven and heavenly joy are. People who have thought about either of them have conceived so general and so crude an idea as to be scarcely any idea at all. From spirits who have recently arrived in the next life from the world I have been enabled to know perfectly well what sort of notion they had conceived about heaven and heavenly joy. For when left to themselves, as if they were still living in the world, they go on thinking as they have done before. Let just a few examples be presented.

AC (Elliott) n. 450 450. There were some who seemed in the world to be more enlightened in the Word than anybody else. They had conceived so false an idea of heaven that they imagined they would be in heaven when they were high up, and that from that position they would be able to rule the things below, and so be in their glory and be pre-eminent. Because they entertained such a false notion, and in order that they might know how mistaken they were, they were conveyed up high and from there they were allowed to rule to some extent over things below. Then, to their shame, they began to realize that this heaven was a delusion and that heaven did not consist in being high up, but that it existed wherever the individual was in whom love and charity abided, that is, who had the Lord’s kingdom within himself. Nor did it consist in wishing to be pre-eminent, for wishing to be greater than others is not heaven, but hell.

AC (Elliott) n. 451 451. There was a certain man who during his lifetime had had authority over others, and in the next life he persisted in the desire to command. He was told that he was now in a different realm, one that was eternal, and that his command on earth had come to an end. Where he was now people estimated an individual solely on the basis of the good and truth, and of the Lord’s mercy as received by him. He was also told that this kingdom resembled that on earth where without exception a person’s wealth, and his favour with his sovereign, determine his position. Here, he was told, wealth consists in good and truth, and favour with the sovereign in the Lord’s mercy. If he sought any other kind of command he was a rebel, for he was now in Another’s kingdom. On hearing all this he was ashamed of himself.

AC (Elliott) n. 452 452. I have spoken to spirits who imagined that heaven and heavenly joy consisted in being the greatest. But they were told that in heaven that person is the greatest who is least, for anyone who wishes to be the least has the greatest happiness. And because the person who is least does have the greatest happiness, he is for that very reason the greatest. What does being the greatest mean but being the happiest of all? It is what the powerful look for in power, and the rich in riches. They were told as well that heaven does not consist in desiring to be least so that in the end one maybe the greatest, for when that is the case the impulse and desire is to be the greatest. Instead heaven consists in a heartfelt desire that things shall be better for others than for oneself and a desire to serve others and further their happiness, doing so with no selfish intention but out of love.

AC (Elliott) n. 453 453. Some have so crude an idea of heaven that they think it is simply a matter of being let in. They even think of it as a room they are let into through a door which is opened, and that they are ushered in by those who are doorkeepers there.

AC (Elliott) n. 454 454. Some spirits think that heaven and heavenly joy consist in a life of ease in which they are waited on by others. But they are told that happiness in no way consists in being inactive and finding happiness in that. This would mean that everybody wished to subordinate other people’s happiness to his own, and when everybody wished to do that nobody would have it. Such life would not be an active life but a life of idleness in which they would become listless, even though they may well know that unless one is active there is no happiness in life. Angelic life consists in use, and in good deeds of charity. For angels never feel happier than when they are informing and teaching spirits that stream in from the world, or when they are ministering to men and are preventing the evil spirits with them overstepping the mark, and inspiring men with what is good; also when they are arousing the dead into the life of eternity, and after that introducing such souls into heaven if they are capable of it. The happiness they find in all this is more than can possibly be described. Angels in this way are images of the Lord; they love their neighbour more than themselves; and this is what makes heaven heaven. Consequently angelic happiness consists in use, stems from use, and is proportionate to use, that is, to the good deeds of love and charity. As for those spirits who had adopted the idea that heavenly joy consisted in being idle, and that in idleness they would be experiencing eternal joy, they were allowed – once told all this to make them ashamed of that idea – to perceive what such a life was really like. They perceived that it was an utterly dreary kind of life, and destructive of all joy; and that after a short while they would find it repulsive and nauseating.

AC (Elliott) n. 455 455. A certain person who during his lifetime had been one of those very well-versed in the Word had adopted the idea that heavenly joy consisted in glorious light, like the light produced when rays of sunshine look golden. Thus for him also heavenly joy consisted in a life of idleness. So that he might recognize that he was mistaken he was granted such light and found himself in the midst of it. So delighted was he then that, as he himself said, it was as though he was in heaven. But he was unable to stay there for very long, since he eventually grew tired of it, and it ceased to give him any joy.

AC (Elliott) n. 456 456. Those who were the most well-versed have said that heavenly joy consisted in simply praising and blessing the Lord without performing good deeds of charity, and that this was an active life. They were told however that praising and blessing the Lord did not constitute such an active life, but was the outgrowth of that life, for the Lord has no need of any praises. They were also told that He wishes men to perform the good deeds of charity, and that in accordance with these they receive happiness from the Lord. But these very well-versed people were still unable to grasp any idea of joy, only of slavery, in the good deeds of charity. The angels testified however that such a life is absolute freedom, and that it is joined to indescribable happiness.

AC (Elliott) n. 457 457. Nearly everyone who enters the next life from the world imagines that hell is the same for everybody, and that heaven is too, when in fact there are limitless differences and variations in both. Hell is never exactly the same for one person as it is for another, and neither is heaven, just as one man, spirit, or angel is never given to be exactly like another. At my merest thought of two being exactly alike or equal, people in the world of spirits and those in the angelic heaven were horrified. They said that every unified whole is formed from the harmony of many constituent parts, and that that whole depended on this harmony. Indeed a simple whole cannot possibly exist, only a harmonized whole. Every community in heaven forms a whole in this way, and all the communities, that is, heaven in its entirety, form a whole. And all this derives from the Lord alone by means of love. A certain angel was counting up merely the most general classes of joy found among spirits, that is, among members of the first heaven. They came to about four hundred and seventy-eight. This demonstrated how countless the less general classes must be and how innumerable the divisions within each class. And with so many in the first heaven alone, how limitless must be the classes of happiness in the heaven of angelic spirits, and still more in the heaven of angels!

AC (Elliott) n. 458 458. On several occasions evil spirits have imagined that a different heaven exists from the one that is the Lord’s, and they have also been allowed to search for it wherever they could. But to their deep dismay, they have not anywhere found any other heaven. Indeed evil spirits race around in a frenzy, both on account of their hatred of the Lord and of the infernal agony of mind they suffer, and seize on delusions such as this.

AC (Elliott) n. 459 459. There are three heavens. The first is where good spirits are, the second where angelic spirits are, and the third where angels are. All three groups – spirits, angelic spirits, and angels – divide into celestial and spiritual. The celestial are those who have by means of love received faith from the Lord, as did members of the Most Ancient Church, dealt with already. The spiritual are those who have by means of cognitions of faith received charity from the Lord, and who act from the charity they have received. This subject is continued at the end of the chapter.

GENESIS 5
1 This is the book of the generations of Man. On the day in which God created Man, in the likeness of God He made him.

2 Male and female He created them, and blessed them, and called their name Man, on the day when they were created.

3 And Man lived a hundred and thirty years. And he beget in his own likeness, according to his own image, and called his name Seth.

4 And the days of Man after he beget Seth were eight hundred years; and he beget sons and daughters.

5 And all the days of Man in which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years; and he beget Enosh.

7 And Seth lived after he beget Enosh eight hundred and seven years; and he beget sons and daughters.

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

9 And Enosh lived ninety years; and he beget Kenan.

10 And Enosh lived after he beget Kenan eight hundred and fifteen years; and he beget sons and daughters.

11 And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.

12 And Kenan lived seventy years; and he beget Mahalalel.

13 And Kenan lived after he beget Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years; and he beget sons and daughters.

14 And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.

15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years; and he beget Jared.

16 And Mahalalel lived after he beget Jared eight hundred and thirty years; and he beget sons and daughters.

17 And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

18 And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years; and he beget Enoch.

19 And Jared lived after he beget Enoch eight hundred years; and he beget sons and daughters.

20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years; and he beget Methuselah.

22 And Enoch walked with God after he beget Methuselah three hundred years; and he beget sons and daughters.

23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was no more, for God took him.

25 And Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years; and he beget Lamech.
26 And Methuselah lived after he beget Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years; and he beget sons and daughters.

27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

28 And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years; and he beget a son.

29 And he called his name Noah, saying, He will comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands that comes from the ground which Jehovah has cursed.

30 And Lamech lived after he beget Noah five hundred and ninety-five years; and he beget sons and daughters.

31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

32 And Noah was a son of five hundred years; and Noah beget Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

AC (Elliott) n. 460 460. CONTENTS
This chapter deals in particular with the continuance of the Most Ancient Church among its descendants down almost to the time of the Flood.

AC (Elliott) n. 461 461. The Most Ancient Church itself, which was celestial, is what is named Man and the Likeness of God, verse 1.

AC (Elliott) n. 462 462. The second Church, which was not so celestial as the Most Ancient Church, is called Seth, dealt with in verses 2, 3.

AC (Elliott) n. 463 463. The third Church was called Enosh, verse 6, the fourth Church Kenan, verse 9, the fifth Church Mahalalel, verse it, the sixth Church Jared, verse 15, the seventh Church Enoch, verse 18, the eighth Church Methuselah, verse 21.

AC (Elliott) n. 464 464. The Church called Enoch is described as one that produced doctrine out of what had been revealed to, and perceived by, the Most Ancient Church. Although this doctrine had no use at that time, it was nevertheless preserved for use among their descendants. This is the meaning of the statement ‘Enoch was no more, for God took him’, verses 22-24.

AC (Elliott) n. 465 465. The ninth Church was called Lamech, verse 25.

AC (Elliott) n. 466 466. The tenth, the parent Church of the three coming after the Flood, is Noah, which is to be called the Ancient Church, verses 28, 29.

AC (Elliott) n. 467 467. Lamech is described as having nothing of the perception of the Most Ancient Church surviving there. And Noah is described as a new Church, verse 29.

AC (Elliott) n. 468 468. THE INTERNAL SENSE
It is clear from what was stated and shown in the previous chapter that names meant heresies and systems of doctrine. From that it becomes clear that the names in this chapter do not mean specific individuals but other things that existed. Here they mean systems of doctrine or Churches which, though they underwent certain changes, were preserved from the time of the Most Ancient Church down to that of Noah. Now it so happens that every Church in the course of time gets smaller until at length it remains among only a few people. The few with whom it remained at the time of the Flood were called Noah.

[2] The fact that the true Church gets smaller and remains among the few becomes clear from other Churches which have in a similar manner got smaller. In the Word those who remain are called ‘the Remnant’ and ‘that which is left’, and indeed people ‘in the midst (or the middle) of the land’. What applies in general applies in particular also; that is, what is true of the Church is equally true of individuals. If the Lord did not preserve remnants with each individual he would inevitably perish in eternal death, for those remnants contain spiritual and celestial life. The same applies to what is general or universal; were there not always some people among whom the Church, or true faith, existed, the human race would perish. For as is well known, a city, even a whole kingdom, is preserved for the sake of a few. These factors are akin to the heart in man: as long as the heart is sound the surrounding organs can go on living. But when it is weak, deterioration sets into them all and the person dies. Final remnants are meant by Noah, for with the exception of these, as is clear from verse 12 of the next chapter, ‘the whole earth was corrupt’.

[3] The remnants residing with the individual or within the Church are frequently the subject in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

He who remains in Zion, and he who is left in Jerusalem will be called holy to Him, everyone who has been written for life* in Jerusalem, when the Lord will have washed the filth of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood** of Jerusalem from its midst. Isa. 4:3, 4.

Here holiness is attributed to the remnants, which mean remnants of the Church, and also of the member of the Church, for those left in Zion and in Jerusalem could not be holy people merely because they had been left there. Similarly in the same prophet,

On that day, the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob that escaped will no more lean on him that smote them; but they will lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the God of power.

In Jeremiah,

In those days and in that time the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon him whom I shall make one that is left. Jer. 50:10.

In Micah,

The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Jehovah, like showers on the grass. Micah 5:7.

[4] That which is left, or the remnant, whether of the individual or of the Church, was also represented by tenths, which were holy. And any number involving ten was consequently holy too. Ten therefore has reference to things that are left over, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah will remove man far away, and there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be a wiping out like an oak or a terebinth when the stump is cast away from them. The holy seed is its stump. Isa. 6:12, 13.

Here that which is left is called ‘the holy stump’. In Amos,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes forth a thousand will have a hundred that are left, and that which goes forth a hundred will have ten that are left to the house of Israel. Amos 9:3.

In these and many other places the internal sense means remnants, also the subject here. The fact that a city is preserved for the sake of the remnant of the Church is clear from what Abraham was told concerning Sodom, Abraham said, Perhaps ten may be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. Gen. 18:32.
* lit. lives
** lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 469 469. Verse 1 This is the book of the generations of Man. On the day in which God created Man, in the likeness of God He made him.

‘The book of the generations’ is a record of those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church. ‘On the day in which God created Man’ means his being made spiritual. ‘In the likeness of God He made him’ means his being made celestial. So it is a description of the Most Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 470 470. ‘The book of the generations’ is a record of those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church. This is quite clear from what follows, for from here down to Eber in Chapter 11 the names used nowhere mean actual persons but real things. In most ancient times the human race was divided into houses, families, and nations. A house consisted of husband and wife together with their children, and also other members of their family who were the servants. A family consisted of a number of such houses, many or few, who dwell in close proximity to one another, but not together. A nation consisted of a number of families, many or few.

AC (Elliott) n. 471 471. The reason why they dwelt in this manner – that is to say, quite separately and divided solely into houses, families, and nations – was so that the Church might in this way be preserved intact, and so that every house and family might be dependent on their parent, and that love and true worship might consequently continue among them. And over and above this each house had distinctive traits that made it different from any other. For it is well known that children, and even later descendants, derive from their parents particular traits and such known characteristics as can be detected in the face and in many other ways. Therefore to guard against any intermingling of innate dispositions, and to preserve their precise differences, it pleased the Lord that they dwell in this manner. In this way the Church was a living representative of the Lord’s kingdom, for the Lord’s kingdom includes countless communities, with each one differing from every other according to differences of love and faith. This, as stated already, is ‘living alone’ and, as also stated, ‘living in tents’. For the same reason it pleased the Lord to have the Jewish Church to do the same, that is, to be divided into houses, families, and nations, with each individual contracting a marriage inside his own family. These matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 472 472. ‘On the day in which God created Man’ means when he was made spiritual, and ‘in the likeness of God He made him’ when he was made celestial. This is clear from what has been staled and shown already. Strictly speaking, the expression ‘to create’ has regard to a person while he is being created anew, or regenerated, whereas ‘to make’ has regard to when he is being perfected. This is why in the Word a careful distinction is maintained between ‘creating’, ‘forming’, and making’, as has appeared already in Chapter 2 where, the subject being the spiritual man who became celestial, it is said that ‘God rested from all His work which God had created when making it’. The same distinction occurs in other places, where ‘creating’ has regard to the spiritual man, while ‘making’, which is perfecting, has regard to the celestial man. See 16 and 88.

AC (Elliott) n. 473 473. ‘The likeness of God’ is the celestial man and ‘the image of God’ is the spiritual man. This too has been shown already, for an image is approaching a likeness, while a likeness is a perfect replica. For the celestial man is governed so completely by the Lord that he is the likeness of Him.

AC (Elliott) n. 474 474. Since the generation or continuance of the Most Ancient Church is therefore the subject, a description is first of all given of how that Church from being spiritual became celestial, for consecutive generations developed from that stage onwards.

AC (Elliott) n. 475 475. Verse 2 Male and female He created them, and blessed them, and called their name Man, on the day when they were created.

‘Male and female’ means the marriage of faith and love. ‘Calling their name Man’ means the Church, which in a particular sense is called Man.

AC (Elliott) n. 476 476. That ‘male and female’ means the marriage of faith and love has been stated and shown already. That is to say, ‘male’ or man (vir) means the understanding and what belongs to the understanding, and so what belongs to faith, while ‘female’ means the will, or what belongs to the will, and so what belongs to love. This also is why she was called Eve, from a word meaning life, which belongs to love alone. ‘Female’ therefore also means the Church, as also shown already, and ‘male’ the man (vir) of the Church. At present the subject is the state of the Church at the time it was spiritual and shortly to become celestial, which is why the word ‘male’ comes first, as it does also in 1:26, 27. Furthermore the expression ‘to create’ has regard to the spiritual man. As soon however as that marriage has taken place, that is, the Church has become celestial, it is no longer called ‘male and female’ but ‘Man’ (Homo) who by virtue of the marriage means both. Consequently ‘and He called their name Man’, which means the Church, follows next.

AC (Elliott) n. 477 477. ‘Man’ is the Most Ancient Church. This has been stated and shown quite often already, for in the highest sense the Lord Himself alone is Man. From this the celestial Church, being the likeness of Him, is referred to as ‘Man’, and then from this the spiritual Church is so called because it was an image of Him. But in a general sense everyone is called man who has human understanding, for a person is man, one person more so than the next, by virtue of his understanding. Nevertheless one person ought to be distinguished from the next according to faith inherent in love to the Lord.

[2] The Most Ancient Church, and every true Church, and so people who belong to the Church, that is, who do so by virtue of love to the Lord and of faith in Him, are pre-eminently called ‘Man’. This is clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

I will cause, man to multiply upon you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. I will cause man and beast to multiply upon you so that they multiply and are fruitful, and I will resettle you* to be as in your ancient times, and I will do more good than in your early days. I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel. Ezek. 36:10-12.

Here the Most Ancient Church is meant by ‘earliest times’, the Ancient Churches by ‘early days’, and the Primitive Church, or Church among gentiles, by ‘the house of Israel’ and ‘the people of Israel’, all of which Churches are called Man.

[3] In Moses,

Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation. When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. Deut. 32:7, 8.

Here the Most Ancient Church is meant by ‘the days of old’ and the Ancient Churches by ‘generation after generation’. Those people are called ‘sons of man’ whose faith was in the Lord, which faith is ‘the number of the sons of Israel’. A regenerate person is called ‘man’ in Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, a void and an emptiness, and at the heavens, and they had no light. I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air’ had flown away. Jer 4:23, 25.

Here ‘earth’ stands for the external man, ‘heaven’ for the internal man; ‘man’ stands for a love of good, and ‘the birds of the air’** for an understanding of truth.

[4] In the same prophet,

Behold, the days are coming when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Jer. 31:27.

Here ‘man’ stands for the internal man, ‘beast’ for the external man. In Isaiah,

Turn yourselves away from the man in whose nostrils there is breath,** for of what account is he? Isa. 2:22.

‘Man’ stands for the member of the Church. In the same prophet,

Jehovah will remove man far away, and there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land. Isa. 6:12.

This refers to the vastation of man, so that good and truth are no more. In the same prophet,

The inhabitants of the land will be scorched and few men (homo) left. Isa. 14:6.

Here ‘men’ (homo) stands for people who have faith. In the same prophet,
The highways have been laid waste, the wayfarer has ceased. He has made the covenant worthless, despised cities, had no regard for man; the land mourns and languishes. Isa. 33:8, 9.

This stands for the man who in Hebrew is Enosh. In the same prophet,

I will make a man (homo) more precious than pure gold, and a man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will jolt heaven, and the earth will be shaken out of its place. Isa. 13:12, 13.

The first reference to ‘a man’ here is Enosh, but the second is Adam.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
** lit. spirit

AC (Elliott) n. 478 478. The reason he is called Adam is that the Hebrew word Adam means man. But the fact that Adam was never used as a proper name, only Man, is quite clear from the consideration that both here and earlier he is spoken of in the plural and not in the singular, and that the term refers to both man and woman. The two together are called Man. Anyone from these words that both are included, for it is said, ‘He called their name Man on the day in which they were created’, and similarly in 1:26, 28, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea. This shows also that the subject is not about someone who, when created, was the first human being of all, but about the Most Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 479 479. ‘Calling the name’ or ‘calling by name’ means in the Word knowing a person’s character, as shown already. Here it means knowing the character of the Most Ancient Church, which was as follows: Man was taken from the ground, that is, was regenerated by the Lord, for Adam is the ground; afterwards when he became celestial, he was above others Man by virtue of faith inherent in love to the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 480 480. It is clear from Gen. 1:26, 27 as well, that ‘they were called Man on the day in which they were created’, that is to say, at the end of the sixth day, which answers to the evening of the Sabbath, or start of the Sabbath or seventh day. For as shown already, the seventh day or Sabbath is the celestial man.

AC (Elliott) n. 481 481. Verse 7 And Man lived a hundred and thirty years. And he beget in his own likeness, according to his own image, and called his name Seth.

‘A hundred and thirty years’ means the period of time prior to the rise of a new Church which, being little different from the Most Ancient Church, is said to have been ‘born in his likeness, and according to his image.’ ‘Likeness’ however has regard to faith and ‘image’ to love. This Church was called Seth.

AC (Elliott) n. 482 482. Until now nobody has known what the years and the numbers of years occurring in this chapter mean in the internal sense. People who stay within the sense of the letter imagine that they are no more than chronological years. But none of the content from here down to Chapter 12 is history as it seems to be in the sense of the letter, for every single detail contains something of a different nature. What applies to names applies to numbers as well. In the Word the number three occurs frequently, and so does the number seven; and in every instance they mean something holy or inviolable as regards those states which the periods of time or whatever else that is mentioned embody or represent. This applies as much to the shortest as to the longest time-intervals; for just as parts makeup the whole, so do the shortest make up the longest. For a similarity must exist in order that a whole may emerge satisfactorily out of the parts, or that which is largest out of that which is smallest.

[2] As in Isaiah,

Jehovah has now spoken, saying, In three years, according to the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be rendered worthless. Isa. 16:14.

In the same prophet,

The Lord said to me, Within yet a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end. Isa. 21:6.

Here both the shortest as well as the longest time-intervals are meant. In Habakkuk,

O Jehovah, I have heard Your fame; I was afraid. O Jehovah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Hab. 3:2.

Here ‘the midst of the years’ stands for the Lord’s Coming. If the intervals are shorter this stands for every coming of the Lord, as when a person is being regenerated; but if longer it stands for the rising anew of the Lord’s Church. It is also called in Isaiah ‘the year of the redeemed’, The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isa. 63:4.

So too ‘the thousand years’ for which Satan is to be bound, Rev. 20:2, 3, 7, and ‘the thousand years’ associated with the first resurrection, Rev. 20:4-6. These in no way mean a thousand years but the states associated with them. For just as ‘days, as shown ‘already, are interpreted as a state, so too are ‘years’, and the states are described by the number of the years. From this it becomes clear that periods of time in this chapter also embody states, for every Church experienced a different state of perception from the next, according to differences of disposition resulting from inherited and acquired characteristics.

AC (Elliott) n. 483 483. The names which follow – Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah – mean just so many Churches, the first and chief one of which was called Man. The chief characteristic of these Churches was perception, and therefore the differences between the Churches of that period were primarily differences in perception. On the subject of perception, let it be mentioned here that nothing else reigns in the whole of heaven but the perception of good and truth. Its nature defies description, and includes differences so countless that no one community’s perception is exactly like that found in another. Perceptions there fall into genera and species. Those genera are countless, and so too are the species within every genus. These in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on. Since there are countless genera, and countless species within every genus, and even more countless sub-species to each species, it becomes clear how very little indeed the world of today knows about celestial and spiritual matters. It does not even know what perception is, and if told, it does not believe that it even exists. The same applies to other matters too.

[2] The Most Ancient Church represented the Lord’s celestial kingdom, even as to each variation of perception in its genus and species. But because nobody nowadays knows what perception is, not even the most general aspect of it, facts of a wholly strange and meaningless nature would therefore be imparted if the genera and species of the perceptions of those Churches were stated. They were divided into houses, families, and nations, and used to contract marriages within their own houses and families, in order that genera and species of perception might be established and be derived from parents altogether as reproductions of innate dispositions. This also is why members of the Most Ancient Church dwell together in heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 484 484. The Church called ‘Seth’ was very similar to the Most Ancient Church. This is clear from the statement that ‘Man beget in his own likeness, according to his own Image, and called his name Seth’. ‘Likeness’ has regard to faith and ‘image’ to love. That it was not in fact the same as the Most Ancient Church so far as love to the Lord and faith deriving from that love were concerned is clear from the statement immediately previous, ‘Male and female He created them, blessed them, and called their name Man’, meaning the spiritual man of the sixth day, as stated already. The likeness of this man was to the spiritual man of the sixth day, that is, love was not so much supreme, but faith was still joined to love.

AC (Elliott) n. 485 485. Here ‘Seth’ is used to mean a different Church from that described as Seth in 4:25; see 435. The fact that Churches with variant doctrines are called by the same name is clear from those called Enoch and Lamech in verses 17, 18, of the previous chapter as being different from those similarly called Enoch and Lamech inverses 21 and 30 of the present chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 486 486. Verse 4 And the days of Man after he beget Seth were eight hundred years; and he beget sons and daughters.

‘Days’ means periods of time and states in general. ‘Years’ means periods of time and states in particular. ‘Sons and daughters’ means the truths and goods that they perceived.

AC (Elliott) n. 487 487. ‘Days means periods of time and states in general. This has been shown in Chapter 1, where the ‘days of creation’ have no other meaning. In the Word it is very common for a whole period of time to be called ‘a day’, as it clearly is in the present verse and in verses 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, below; and therefore the states that belong to periods of time in general are meant by ‘days’ as well. And when ‘years’ is attached, then periods of years mean the natures of those states, and so the states in particular.

[2] The most ancient people had their own particular numbers which they would use to mean different aspects of the Church – for instance, the numbers three, seven, ten, twelve, and many which they obtained from these and other numbers – and in so doing incorporated states of the Church. These numbers therefore contain arcana that would require considerable effort to unravel. Really a number was an evaluation of the states of the Church. The same feature occurs throughout the Word, especially in the prophetical. And the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church also entail numbers specifying periods of time as well as quantities; for example, in connection with sacrifices, minchahs, oblations, and other practices, which in every case have special reference to holy things. Consequently eight hundred in this verse, nine hundred and thirty in the next, and the numbers of years mentioned in the verses that follow after that, embody in particular more matters than can possibly be retold; matters, that is to say, which have to do with changes in the state of their Church in relationship to their own general state. Later on, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, the meaning of the simple numbers up to twelve will be given, for without knowing these first of all no one can grasp what compound numbers mean.

AC (Elliott) n. 488 488. As has been stated, ‘days’ means states in general, and ‘years’ states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezek. 22:4.

This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so ‘days’ has reference in this case to such people’s state in general, ‘years’ to that state in particular. In David,

You will add days to the king’s days; and his years as generation after generation! Ps. 61:6.

This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again ‘days’ and ‘years’ stand for the state of His kingdom. In the same author,

I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Ps. 77:5.

Here ‘days of old’ is states of the Most Ancient Church, and ‘years of long ago’ states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isa. 63:4.

This stands for the final times, where ‘the day of vengeance’ stands for a state of condemnation, and ‘the year of the redeemed’ for a state of blessedness. Similarly, in the same prophet,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah’s good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isa. 61:2.

Here again ‘days’ and also ‘years’ are mentioned and mean states. In Jeremiah,

Renew our days as of old. Lam. 5:21.

Here ‘days’ plainly stands for state.

[2] In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1, 2, 11.

Here ‘day’ stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom – a state of individuals in particular and of all in general. In Zechariah,

I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zech. 3:9, 10.

And elsewhere in Zechariah,

There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zech. 14:7.

State is clearly meant here, for it is said that ‘it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light’. The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deut. 5:16; 25:75.

Here ‘a prolonging of days’ does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.

[3] In the sense of the letter ‘day’ cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezek. 30:3.

And in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.

Here ‘a day of cloud’ stands for cloud or falsity, ‘a day of the nations’ for the nations or wickedness, and ‘the day of Jehovah’ for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 489 489. ‘Sons and daughters’ means the truths and goods which they perceived, ‘sons to be exact meaning the truths and ‘daughters’ the goods. This becomes clear from very many places in the Prophets. For in the Word, as happened in earliest times, conceptions and births of the Church are called ‘sons and daughters’, as in Isaiah,

Nations will walk to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather and they come towards you. Your sons will come from far, and your daughters will be nursed at your side. Then you will see and abound, and your heart will be astounded and enlarged. Isa. 60:3-5.

Here ‘sons’ stands for truths and ‘daughters’ for goods. In David,

Rescue me and snatch me from the hand of sons of the foreigner, whose mouths speak lies. Our sons are like plants made large in their youth, our daughters like corner-pillars cut in the form of the temple. Ps. 144:11, 12.

‘Sons of the foreigner’ stands for spurious truths, which are falsities, ‘our sons’ for matters of doctrine concerning truth, and ‘daughters’ for matters of doctrine concerning good. In Isaiah,

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not withhold. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth. Bring forth the blind people, and they will have eyes, and the deaf, who will have ears. Isa. 43:6, 8.

Here ‘sons’ stands for truths, ‘daughters’ for goods, ‘the blind’ for people who will see truths, and ‘the deaf’ for those who comply with them. In Jeremiah,

From our youth shame is devouring the work of our fathers – their flocks, their herds, their sons, and their daughters. Jer. 3:24.

Here ‘sons and daughters’ stands for truths and goods.

[2] ‘Male children’ and ‘sons’ stand for truths in the following in Isaiah,

Jacob will no more be ashamed, and no more will his face grow pale. For when he sees his male children, the work of My hands, in his midst they will sanctify My name, and they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who err in spirit will know understanding Isa. 29:12–24.

‘The Holy One of Jacob, the God of Israel’ stands for the Lord, ‘male children’ for regenerate people who have an understanding of good and truth, as is also explicitly stated. In the same prophet,

Sing, O barren one, who did not bear, for the sons of her that is desolate are more than the suns of her that is married. Isa. 54:1

‘The sons of her that is desolate’ stands for truths of the Primitive Church, or Church among gentiles, while ‘the sons of her that is married’ stands for truths of the Jewish Church. In Jeremiah,

My tent has been laid waste, and all My cords torn away; My sons have gone away from Me, and they are not. Jer 10:20.

‘Sons’ stands for truths. In the same prophet,

Their suns will be as they were of old, and their congregation will be established before Me. Jer. 30:10

Here ‘sons’ stands for the truths of the Ancient Church. In Zechariah,

I will rouse your sons, O Zion, together with your sons, O Jehovah, and I will set you as the sword of one who is powerful. Zech. 9:13. Here ‘sons’ stands for truths of faith inherent in love.

AC (Elliott) n. 490 490. Many times in the Word ‘daughter’ stands for goods, as in David,

Daughters of kings are among your precious ones, at your right hand stands the queen in the finest gold of Ophir. The daughter of Tyre is there with a gift. All glorious is the king’s daughter within, in her clothing of gold embroidery. Instead of your fathers will be your sons. Ps. 45:9-16.

Here the good and beauty of love and faith are described as ‘a daughter’. This is why Churches are called ‘daughters’, and especially by virtue of goods, for example, ‘the daughter of Zion and the daughter of Jerusalem’ in Isa. 37:22, and frequently elsewhere. They are also called ‘the daughters of [My] people’ in Isa. 22:4, ‘the daughter of Tarshish’ in Isa. 23:10 ‘the daughter of Sidon’ in Isa. 23:10, and ‘daughters in the field’ in Ezek. 26:6, 8.

AC (Elliott) n. 491 491. The same things are meant by ‘sons and daughters’ in verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30, of this chapter, but the character of a Church determines that of its ‘sons and daughters’, or goods and truths. Here they are truths and goods that men perceived most clearly, for they have regard to the Most Ancient Church, the head and forefather of all other Churches that followed after it.

AC (Elliott) n. 492 492. Verse 5 And all the days of Man in which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

Here, as previously, ‘days’ and ‘years’ mean periods of time and states. ‘He died’ means that this kind of perception existed no more.

AC (Elliott) n. 493 493. There is no need to pause too long over the consideration that ‘days’ and ‘years mean periods of time and states. Only this need be stated here, that in the world periods of time and measurements to which numbers may be applied are indispensable, for they belong within the ultimate realms of nature. But whenever such application occurs, the numbers of days and years, and also the numbers applied to measurements, mean something which is completely different from periods of time or from measurements, and which is determined by the meaning of the number used, as in the statements about there being six days for work, and the seventh being holy, which are dealt with above; in the statement about a jubilee having to be announced every forty-ninth year and celebrated in the fiftieth; about the tribes of Israel being twelve, the same number as the Lord’s Apostles; and about there being seventy elders, the same number as the Lord’s disciples. And there are many other examples where the numbers mean some special characteristic completely different from the persons or objects to which they apply. And when completely separated one from the other the states meant by the numbers are then left.

AC (Elliott) n. 494 494. ‘He died’ means that this kind of perception existed no more. This is clear from the meaning of the expression ‘to die’, which means everything that ceases to be what it once was, as in John,

To the angel of the Church in Sardis write, These things says He who has the seven spirits and the seven stars, I know your works; you are said to be alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen what remains and is at the point of truth, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of God. Rev. 3:1, 2.

In Jeremiah,

I will hurl your mother who bore you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die. Jer. 22:26.

Here ‘mother’ stands for the Church. For the course of the Church is such, as stated, that it declines and degenerates, and the perfection of earlier days is lost, chiefly because of the increase in hereditary evil. For every parent adds further evil to that which he has inherited. All evil of their own doing residing with parents takes on a kind of intrinsic nature, and when such evil is frequent in its recurrence, it does become part of their nature. It is added to what they have inherited and is handed on to children and so to descendants. In this way hereditary evil becomes more and more enormous in descendants. This anyone may recognize from the evil inclination in children being just like that in their parents and grandparents.

[2] The opinion of people who imagine that no hereditary evil exists beyond that which, they assert, has been implanted in us from Adam, is utterly and completely false; see 317. In reality everyone is producing hereditary evil through the sins of his own doing, and adding this to what he acquired from his parents. In this manner it mounts up and remains in all his descendants. Nor is it ever moderated except in people who are being regenerated by the Lord. This is the chief reason why every Church degenerates, including the Most Ancient.

AC (Elliott) n. 495 495. How the Most Ancient Church declined does not become clear unless it is known what perception is, for it was a Church gifted with perceptivity, such as does not exist nowadays. The perception of that Church consists in their perceiving from the Lord what good and truth are, as angels do It is not so much a perception of the good and truth of civil society, but the good and truth deriving from love to the Lord and faith in Him. It is a person’s profession of faith, a profession confirmed by his life, that makes clear the nature of perception and whether it exists at all.

AC (Elliott) n. 496 496. Verse 6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years; and he begot Enosh.
As has been stated, ‘Seth’ is a second Church, less celestial than the parent Most Ancient Church, but nevertheless one of the Most Ancient Churches ‘He lived a hundred and five years’ means, as previously, periods of time and states. ‘He beget Enosh’ means that from those people a different Church came down, which was called Enosh.

AC (Elliott) n. 497 497. That ‘Seth’ is a second Church, less celestial than the parent Most Ancient Church, but nevertheless one of the Most Ancient Churches, is clear from what has been stated already about Seth at verse 3. The situation with Churches, as has also been stated, is that little by little, as one period of time gives way to another, they decline as regards things that are vital, chiefly for the reason dealt with already.

AC (Elliott) n. 498 498. ‘He begot Enosh’ means that from them a different Church came down, which was called Enosh. This too is clear from the fact that names in this chapter mean nothing other than Churches.

AC (Elliott) n. 499 499. Verses 7, 8 And Seth lived after he beget Enosh eight hundred and seven years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died.

Here, as previously, the days and numbers of years mean periods of time and states. ‘Sons and daughters’ have the same meaning as previously, and so too does ‘he died’.

AC (Elliott) n. 500 500. Verse 9 And Enosh lived ninety years; and he beget Kenan.

As has been stated, ‘Enosh’ means a third Church, even less celestial than the Church of Seth, but nevertheless one of the Most Ancient Churches. ‘Kenan’ means a fourth Church which came after the previous ones.

AC (Elliott) n. 501 501. The succession of Churches in the course of time, and how, as is said, they were born one from another, resembles fruit or the seeds within fruit. in their centre or inmost parts there are, so to speak, the fruit of the fruit, or seeds of the seeds, from which there live so to speak in order the surrounding parts which develop at later stages. For the further those areas are from the middle towards the outermost parts the less are they essentially fruit or seed, until at length the skin or shell is reached where the fruit or seeds terminate. Or as with the brain, in the innermost areas there are delicate parts of its organic structure known as the cortical substances, from which and through which the soul functions. From these cortical substances finer coverings proceed in proper order, then those that are coarser. After that there are general coverings called meninges, and more general ones outside of these until the one on the very outside, which is the skull, is reached.

AC (Elliott) n. 502 502. Those three churches – Man, Seth, and Enosh – constitute the Most Ancient Church. Nevertheless they had different degrees of perfection as regards perception. The perceptivity found in the first of these Churches everywhere grew less in those that followed until it became something rather general, in the way mentioned above concerning fruit or seed, or concerning the brain. Perfection consists in an ability to perceive very clearly, and is diminished when perception is less clear and more general. At that point vaguer perception takes the place of clearer and so starts to disappear.

AC (Elliott) n. 503 503. The perceptivity of the Most Ancient Church lay not merely in their perceiving what good and truth were but also in the joy and delight of doing what was good. Without this joy and delight of doing what is good perceptivity is without life. They are the source of its life. The life of love and faith deriving from it, such as the Most Ancient Church possessed, is a life that comes with performing use, that is, with the good and truth that accompany use. It is from use, by way of use, and according to use, that life is imparted by the Lord. And that which is without use can have no life in it, for that which is without use is cast aside. In this respect those people were likenesses of the Lord, and in their perceptivity therefore became images too. Perceptivity is knowing what good and truth are, and so knowing what is the substance of faith. Anyone who has love within him is not content just with knowing, but with doing what is good and true, that is, with engaging in a use.

AC (Elliott) n. 504 504. Verses 10, 11 And Enosh lived after he beget Kenan eight hundred and fifteen years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died.

Here similarly days and numbers of years, also ‘sons and daughters’, as well as ‘he died’, have a similar meaning.

AC (Elliott) n. 505 505. As has been stated, Enosh is a third Church, one of the Most Ancient Churches. But it was less celestial and so less perceptive than the Church of Seth, which in turn was not so celestial or perceptive as the parent Church called Man had been. These three constituting the Most Ancient Church were, in relation to those that followed, like the kernel of fruit or seeds, whereas the Churches that followed were relatively like their outer coverings.

AC (Elliott) n. 506 506. Verse it And Kenan lived seventy years; and he beget Mahalalel. ‘Kenan’ means a fourth Church, and ‘Mahalelel’ a fifth.

AC (Elliott) n. 507 507. The Church called Kenan must not be listed so closely with those three that were more perfect, for this was the point when the perception which had been so definite with those former Churches started to become general. Comparatively it was like the first and softer coverings closest to the kernel of a fruit or seed. Although this state is not actually described it is nevertheless apparent from what follows, in the description of the Churches named Enoch and Noah.

AC (Elliott) n. 508 508. Verses 13, 14 And Kenan lived after he beget Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died. The same applies to days and numbers of years here as in previous references to them. Here, as previously, ‘sons and daughters’ means the truths and goods which they perceived, though in a more general way now. ‘He died’ again means that it ceased to be what it had once been.

AC (Elliott) n. 509 509. No more need be noticed here than that every detail has reference to the state of the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 510 510. Verse 15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years; and he beget Jared. As has been stated, ‘Mahalalel’ means a fifth Church, ‘Jared’ a sixth.

AC (Elliott) n. 511 511. Because perceptivity diminished, and from being quite clear or definite became increasingly general or vague, the life inherent in love or forms of use diminished too. For what applies to the life inherent in love or forms of use consequently applies to perceptivity too. It is celestial to know from good what truth is. The life also of the people who belonged to the Church called Mahalalel was such that they preferred pleasure obtained from truths to the joy derived from forms of use. This I have been given to know from experience in the next life from persons of a similar nature.

AC (Elliott) n. 512 512. Verses 16, 17 And Mahalalel lived after he beget Jared eight hundred and thirty years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.

These words are similar in meaning to similar statements made already.

AC (Elliott) n. 513 513. Verse 18 And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years; and he beget Enoch. As has been stated, ‘Jared’ means a sixth Church, ‘Enoch’ a seventh.

AC (Elliott) n. 514 514. Nothing is mentioned about the Church called Jared, but its character becomes clear from the Church of ‘Mahalalel’ which preceded it, and from the Church of ‘Enoch’ that followed it. For it stands half-way between these two.

AC (Elliott) n. 515 515. Verses 19, 20 And Jared lived after he beget Enoch eight hundred years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.

These words also are similar in meaning to those that have been dealt with already. The fact that these characters’ ages were not actually that great – for example, Jared’s being nine hundred and sixty-two years, and Methuselah’s being nine hundred and sixty-nine – must be clear to everyone. It will also become clear from what will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated at verse 3 of the next chapter, where it is said, ‘Their days will be one hundred and twenty years’. Consequently a specific number of years does not mean the life-span of some person or other but periods of time and states of the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 516 516. Verse 21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years; and he beget Methuselah.

As has been stated, ‘Enoch’ means a seventh Church, and ‘Methuselah’ an eighth.

AC (Elliott) n. 517 517. The character of the Church of ‘Enoch’ is described in what follows immediately.

AC (Elliott) n. 518 518. Verse 22 And Enoch walked with God after he beget Methuselah three hundred years; and he beget sons and daughters.

‘Walking with God’ means doctrine concerning faith. ‘He beget sons and daughters’ means matters of doctrine concerning truths and goods.

AC (Elliott) n. 519 519. At that time there were people who formulated doctrine out of what had been matters of perception in the Most Ancient Church and in the Churches that came after it, and this doctrine was to serve as a yardstick by which people could recognize what good and truth were. Such people were called ‘Enoch’, and this is meant by these words, ‘and Enoch walked with God’. They also applied this name to that doctrine of theirs, for this indeed was meant by the name Enoch, which is ‘instructing’. The matter is also clear from the meaning of the expression walking’ and from the fact that he is said to have walked, not with Jehovah, but ‘with God’. ‘Walking with God’ is teaching and living according to the doctrine of faith, whereas ‘walking with Jehovah’ is leading a life of love. ‘Walking’ is a customary expression to mean living, as in the phrases walking in the law, walking in statutes, walking in the truth. Strictly speaking, walking has regard to the path of truth, and therefore of faith or the doctrine of faith. From the places that are quoted below it becomes to some extent clear what ‘walking’ means in the Word.

[2] In Micah,

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God? Micah 6:8.

Here too ‘walking with God’ means living according to the requirements set out here. But although the expression ‘with God’ is used here the preposition employed is different from the one used in reference to Enoch, which really means ‘from with God’, and so is a phrase which is ambiguous.* In David,

You have delivered my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. Ps. 56:13.

Here ‘walking before God’ is walking in the truth of faith, which is ‘the light of the living’. Similarly in Isaiah,

The people walking in darkness see a great light. Isa. 9:2.

In Moses the Lord says,

I will walk in your midst and be your God, and you will be My people. Lev. 26:11.

This stood for the requirement that they should live according to the teaching of the law.

In Jeremiah,

They will spread them** before the sun and the moon and all the hosts of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after, and which they have sought. Jer. 8:2

A clear distinction is made here between the things that belong to love and those that belong to faith. Those that belong to love are referred to by ‘loving and serving’, those that belong to faith by ‘walking and seeking after’. For in the Prophets careful attention is paid to the use of words; one word is nowhere used in place of another In the Word ‘walking with Jehovah’ or ‘before Jehovah’ means leading a life of love.
* i.e. the Hebrew preposition ‘im is used in Micah 6:8 but ‘eth in Gen. 5:22.
** i.e. the bones of those mentioned in Jer. 8:1.

AC (Elliott) n. 520 520. Verses 23, 24 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years And Enoch walked with God; and he was no more, for God took him.

‘All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years’ means that they were few. ‘He walked with God’ as previously, is doctrine concerning faith. ‘He was no more, for God took him’ means that that doctrine was preserved for use by descendants.

AC (Elliott) n. 521 521. ‘He was no more for God took him’ means that that doctrine reserved for use by descendants. He was no more. As regards Enoch, that which the Most Ancient Church had perceived, as has been stated, was converted by him into doctrine, something that had not been allowed to people of that period. For knowing something from perception is altogether different from learning it from doctrine. People who have perception have no need to learn through the channel of formulated doctrine what they know already. Take, for the sake of illustration, someone who knows already how to think clearly. He has no need to learn rules on how to think. If he did so his ability to think clearly would perish, as happens to people buried in the dust of sheer intellectualism. In the case of people whose knowledge comes from perception, the Lord grants them to know what good and truth are through an internal channel, while those who learn from doctrine are granted it by an external channel, that is, by way of the physical senses. The difference between the two is like that between light and darkness. Furthermore the perceptions of the celestial man lie beyond all description, for they enter into the smallest details and are for ever varied according to states and attendant circumstances. Now as it was foreseen that the perceptivity of the Most Ancient Church would perish, and that subsequently people would learn what truth and good were by means of doctrines, that is, they would come to the light by way of darkness, it is therefore said here that ‘God took him’, which is to say, He preserved such doctrine for the use of descendants.

AC (Elliott) n. 522 522. I have also been given to know the character of perceptivity as it came to be among those called Enoch. It was something general and vague, and was devoid of anything definite, for in those circumstances the mind fixes its attention on doctrinal matters outside itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 523 523. Verse 25 And Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years; and he beget Lamech.

‘Methuselah’ means an eighth Church, and ‘Lamech’ a ninth.

AC (Elliott) n. 524 524. As to the character of this Church nothing specific is mentioned. Nevertheless it is clear from the description of the Church called ‘Noah’ that perceptivity became general and vague, so that integrity diminished, and with integrity, wisdom and intelligence.

AC (Elliott) n. 525 525. Verses 26, 27 And Methuselah lived after he beget Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.

These words are similar in meaning to all the rest.

AC (Elliott) n. 526 526. Verse 28 And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years; and he beget a son.

‘Lamech’ here means a ninth Church in which the perception of truth and good was so general and vague as to be almost none at all, and so it was a vastated Church. ‘A son means the rise of a new Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 527 527. That Lamech means a Church in which the perception of truth and good was so general and vague as to be almost none at all, and so it was a vastated Church, becomes clear from what has gone before and from what follows, for the very next verse contains a description of it. In the previous chapter ‘Lamech’ had almost the same meaning as he does here, namely vastation; see verses 18, 19, 23, 24, of that chapter. And the one who beget him even bore a similar name, which was Methusael. Consequently things that were almost the same were meant by these names; Methusael and Methuselah both mean something that is about to die, while Lamech means that which has been destroyed.

AC (Elliott) n. 528 528. Verse 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, He will comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands that comes from the ground which Jehovah has cursed.

‘Noah’ means the Ancient Church. ‘Comforting us from our work and from the toil of our hands that comes from the ground which Jehovah has cursed’ means the doctrine by which what had been corrupted would be restored.

AC (Elliott) n. 529 529. That ‘Noah’ means the Ancient Church, or parent Church of the three Churches after the Flood, will be clear from what follows where Noah is dealt with extensively.

AC (Elliott) n. 530 530. As has been stated, the names used in this chapter mean Churches, or what amounts to the same, doctrinal systems, for it is by virtue of its doctrine that a Church exists and takes its name. Thus Noah means the Ancient Church, or the doctrine that remained from the Most Ancient Church. The situation with Churches or doctrines has been stated already, namely that they dwindle away until nothing remains any longer of the goods and truths of faith. And when that point has been reached, the Church is in the Word called vastated. Nevertheless a remnant is always preserved, that is, some people are preserved, no matter how few, with whom the good and truth of faith persist. And unless that good and truth of faith were preserved with those people there would be no conjunction of heaven with the human race.

[2] As regards the remnants that reside with the individual, the fewer they are the less possible it is for the rational concepts and the factual knowledge he possesses to receive light; for the light of good and truth flows in from the remnants, or rather from the Lord by way of the remnants. If there were no remnants residing with a person, he would not be a human being, but someone far inferior to any animal. The fewer the remnants, the less he is a human being, while the more they are, the more he is a human being. Remnants are like a star in the sky; the smaller it is the weaker the light coming from it, but the greater it is, the brighter the light coming from it. The few things that did remain from the Most Ancient Church resided with those who constituted the Church called Noah. Those things were not however the remains of perception but of integrity, and also of doctrine deriving from the things of the Most Ancient Churches that were matters of perception. At that point therefore a new Church was raised up by the Lord. Being entirely different in disposition from the Most Ancient Churches, it is to be referred to as the Ancient Church, ancient from the fact that it existed at the last stage before the Flood and in the first period of time after it. This Church will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 531 531. ‘Comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands that comes from the ground which Jehovah has cursed’ means the doctrine by which what had been corrupted would be restored. This too, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, will be clear from what will come later on. ‘Work’ means their inability to perceive what truth was without toil and distress. ‘The toil of our hands that comes from the ground which Jehovah has cursed’ means their inability to do anything good. Such is the description of Lamech or a vastated Church. ‘The work and the toil of our hands’ is when people must from themselves or the proprium inquire after what truth is and do what is good. And the outcome is ‘the ground which Jehovah has cursed’, that is, nothing but falsity and evil. For the meaning of ‘Jehovah curses’, see 245. ‘To comfort’ however refers to Lamech’s son, or Noah, who means new regeneration, and so a new Church, which was the Ancient Church. This Church or Noah also means peace and the comfort that peace brings, just as the Most Ancient Church is referred to as the seventh day on which the Lord rested; see 84-88.

AC (Elliott) n. 532 532. Verses 30, 71 And Lamech lived after he beget Noah five hundred and ninety-five years; and he beget sons and daughters. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.

As has been stated, ‘Lamech’ means a vastated Church. ‘Sons and daughters’ means conceptions and births of such a Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 533 533. Since nothing further is mentioned about Lamech apart from the fact that be beget sons and daughters, who are the conceptions and births of such a Church, there is no need to pause any longer over him. What these births, or sons and daughters, were, becomes clear from the Church, for the character of a Church determines that of its offspring. Both those Churches called Methuselah and Lamech breathed their last just before the flood.

AC (Elliott) n. 534 534. Verse 32 And Noah was a son of five hundred years; and Noah beget Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

As has been stated, ‘Noah’ means the Ancient Church. ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ means the three Ancient Churches, whose parent was the Ancient Church called Noah.

AC (Elliott) n. 535 535. The Church called Noah must not be reckoned among the Churches that came before the Flood. This becomes clear from verse 29, which says that that Church ‘would comfort them from their work and from the toil of their hands that came from the ground which Jehovah had cursed’. The comfort was that it would live on and endure. Noah and his sons however will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 536 536. Frequent reference has been made in previous paragraphs to perception as it existed in the Churches prior to the Flood, and how nowadays perception is something altogether unknown, so unknown that some may imagine it to be a type of continuous revelation, or to be something innate in people. Others may imagine that it is purely a figment of the imagination, and others something different again. But whatever they may think, perception is in fact the celestial itself which the Lord imparts to those who possess faith that inheres in love, and throughout the whole of heaven perception exists in forms endlessly varying. All of this being so, to enable people to have some idea of what perception is, in the Lord’s Divine mercy let the nature of the various kinds of perception as they exist in heaven be described later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 537 537. HEAVEN AND HEAVENLY JOY – continued

A certain spirit once positioned himself on my left side and asked whether I knew how he could get into heaven. I was allowed to reply that admission into heaven belongs to the Lord alone, for He alone knows a person’s character. Many people coming from the world are like this spirit; their one request is that they may enter heaven, without knowing at all what heaven is and what heavenly joy is. They do not know that heaven is mutual love, and heavenly joy the joy resulting from this. Consequently those who do not know this are first of all acquainted with what heaven is and what heavenly joy is, even by actual experience. This was also the case with a certain spirit who had recently come from the world and who had a similar desire for heaven. So that he might perceive the nature of heaven, the interiors of his being were opened so as to give him some feeling of heavenly joy. Once he had felt it he began to moan and to writhe about, pleading that he be set free and saying that he could not live in such agony. So the interiors of his being that had been turned in heaven’s direction were closed again, and in this way he was restored. This shows the nature of the pangs of conscience and of the agony that afflict those who, when admitted for only a short while, do not really belong in that place.

AC (Elliott) n. 538 538. There were also some who were striving to get into heaven without knowing what heaven was. They were told that if they did not possess the faith that inheres in love, entering heaven was as dangerous as walking into a blazing fire. But they went on doing all they could to get there. When they reached its most outlying area however, that is, that lower sphere of angelic spirits, they found it so overpowering that they flung themselves back in the opposite direction. In this way they were shown how dangerous it was merely to approach heaven before they had been prepared by the Lord to receive the affections that accompany faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 539 539. There was a certain spirit who during his lifetime had thought nothing of committing adultery. Even he, because he desired it, gained admission to the threshold of heaven. On reaching it he began to suffer and to be aware of his own corpse-like stench until he could put up with it no longer. It seemed to him that if he went any further he would perish. Consequently he was cast down from there into the lower earth, furious that when on only the threshold of heaven he should experience such excruciating pains because he had entered a sphere that was the contrary of adultery. He is among those who are unhappy.

AC (Elliott) n. 540 540. Almost everybody entering the next life is ignorant of what heavenly blessedness and happiness are, for people do not know what internal joy is, or the nature of it. They gain a conception of it solely through bodily and worldly delights and joys. Consequently that of which they are ignorant they imagine to be nothing. But in fact bodily and worldly joys are by contrast worthless and foul. Therefore so that upright persons who do not know what heavenly joy is may come to know and recognize it they are taken first of all to the gardens there, which surpass anyone’s entire imagination. These will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. These persons now suppose that they have entered the heavenly paradise, but they are taught that even this is not true heavenly happiness, and so they are then given to know about the inward states of joy that enter their inmost being. After this they are brought into a state of peace that reaches to their inmost being, at which point they declare that no part of such experience could possibly be expressed in words or even conceived of. Finally they are brought into a state of innocence, and this too reaches their inmost feelings. In this way they are given to know what true spiritual and celestial goodness is.

AC (Elliott) n. 541 541. There were some who, not knowing what heavenly joy was, were carried away unexpectedly into heaven. To enable them to be taken up they had been brought into that state where the physical impulses and false notions have been lulled to sleep. I heard from there one of them telling me that he now felt for the first time how much joy there was in heaven, and that in holding to a different idea of it he had been grossly misled. In his inmost being he now felt this as something immeasurably superior to any pleasure men delight in during the life of the body, and which he called something base.

AC (Elliott) n. 542 542. In the case of those who are brought into heaven so that they may know the nature of it, either their physical impulses and false notions are lulled to sleep – for nobody can enter heaven with physical impulses and false notions which they bring with them from the world – or else they are encircled by spirits who moderate in a miraculous fashion those things that are unclean and cause dissension. With some the interiors of their being are opened. These things and others are what they experience according to the lives they have led and their resulting dispositions.

AC (Elliott) n. 543 543. Certain spirits wished to know what heavenly joy was. They were allowed therefore to perceive their own inmost joy, even to a point where they could bear it no longer. But even this was not angelic joy. It barely resembled the least of angelic joys, and this they were allowed to perceive through the communication of their joy. Their own joy was so meagre that it seemed quite tepid, yet they called it most heavenly since it was their own inmost joy. From this it was clear not only that there are degrees of joy but also that the inmost part of one degree comes scarcely anywhere near the outer or the middle area of the next. It was also clear that when anybody receives the inmost of his joys this for him is heavenly joy. Nor can he tolerate anything more internal than that, as it becomes painful to him.

AC (Elliott) n. 544 544. Certain spirits were admitted into the heaven of innocence belonging to the first heaven, and from there they spoke to me. They declared that it was a state of joy and delight, such as no one could possibly imagine. And yet this was merely in the first heaven; for there are three heavens, and in each one there are states of innocence possessing countless variations.

AC (Elliott) n. 545 545. To enable me to know what heaven and heavenly joy are, and the nature of them, the Lord has allowed me frequently and for long periods to perceive the delights that accompany heavenly joys. From my actual experience therefore I can know them but in no sense describe them. However, so that people may have a rough idea of it, let me say this: It is the affection accompanying countless joys and delights which product one general and simultaneous joy. That general joy, or general affection, consists of harmonious bands of countless affections, none of which focus clearly in one’s perception, but only indistinctly, because one’s perception is very general. Nevertheless I have been allowed to perceive that it contains countless things whose ordering defies description. Those countless things are such as flow from the order of heaven itself.

[2] This order extends to the smallest individual areas of the affection, which present themselves and are perceived simply as one very general whole. They present themselves and are perceived according to the capacity of the person subject to them. In a word, every general affection contains innumerable parts ordered into a perfect form. No part is devoid of life or fails to affect. This applies to the inmost parts in particular, for heavenly joys stem from things that are inmost. I have also perceived that the joy and delight went out as it were from the heart and very gently spread themselves through every inmost fibre, and from there into every cluster of fibres, doing so with such an interior sense of delight that a fibre was so to speak nothing but joy and delight; and all resulting perceptivity and feeling in like manner was alive with happiness. In comparison with those joys, the joy that accompanies the desires of the flesh is as thick choking smog to a pure and very gentle breeze.

AC (Elliott) n. 546 546. So that I might know about those people who desire to enter heaven but are not such as can exist there, an angel once appeared to me as a young child while I was present in a heavenly community. He had a garland of bright blue flowers around his head, and flowers of other colours twined around his breast. From this I was given to understand that I was present in a community where charity reigned. Into that same community certain upright spirits were at that point admitted who, the moment they were coming in, developed greatly in understanding and spoke like angelic spirits. Subsequently those who wished to be innocent from themselves were let in. Their condition was represented to me as an infant vomiting milk out of its mouth. That is exactly what those people are like. After that, people were admitted who imagined that they were self-intelligent. Their condition was represented in their faces, which looked quite beautiful but pointed. On their heads they seemed to be wearing pointed hats with a sharp peak. Their faces however did not look like faces of human flesh but like lifeless carvings. This is the condition of people who believe they are spiritual from themselves, that is, who believe that from themselves they can possess faith. Other spirits were admitted who were unable to remain in that place. They were dismayed, grew uneasy, and fled from there.

AC (Elliott) n. 547 547. 6

HEAVEN AND HEAVENLY JOY – continued

All souls who enter the next life are ignorant of what heaven is and what heavenly joy is. The majority imagine it to be a form of joy which any can be let into no matter how they have lived, even those who have hated their neighbour and have gone through life committing adultery. They are totally unaware of the fact that heaven is mutual and chaste love, and that heavenly joy is the resulting happiness.

AC (Elliott) n. 548 548. I have spoken several times to spirits recently arrived from the world about the state of eternal life, and have said that it was important for them to know who the Lord of that kingdom is, what is the system of government, and what form that government takes. It is the same in the world when people go to another kingdom; they wish to know beforehand who the king is and what he is like, what is the system of government, and many other facts concerning that kingdom. How much more does this apply in that kingdom where they are going to live for ever. I have told them that the Lord alone rules not only heaven but also the whole universe, for He who rules the one must rule the other, and also that the kingdom which they are now in is the Lord’s kingdom, and that the laws of this kingdom are eternal truths, every one of which is based on the incomparable law that they are to love the Lord supremely and the neighbour as themselves. Indeed if they wished to be as the angels, they must now go beyond that and love the neighbour more than themselves.

[2] On hearing these things they have been speechless, for during their life-time they had heard something of the sort but had not believed it. Even though they had heard that they were to love the neighbour as themselves, they have been amazed that such love exists in heaven, and that it is possible for anyone to love the neighbour more than himself. They have been informed however that in the next life all goods increase without limit, whereas life in the body is such that they cannot progress beyond the point of loving their neighbour as themselves, because they are engrossed in bodily interests. Once the latter have been removed however, love becomes purer, and at length angelic. And this is loving the neighbour more than themselves.

[3] The possibility of such love has been made clear from the conjugial love of certain persons who would die rather than let their partner be harmed. It is also clear from the love of parents for their children; a mother would rather endure starvation than see her child go hungry, as is true even of birds and of animals. The possibility of that love is also apparent in real friendship in which people risk any danger for the sake of their friends. It is apparent even from that polite but counterfeit friendship which seeks to imitate real friendship by offering choicer things to those they wish well to, and by paying lip-service to good will even though it does not exist in their hearts. Finally, the possibility of loving the neighbour more than oneself is clear from the very nature of love whose joy resides in serving others for love’s sake and not one’s own. But people who loved themselves more than anybody else have not been able to grasp these things; nor have those who during their lifetime were eager for money, and least of all the avaricious.

AC (Elliott) n. 549 549. The angelic state is such that everyone communicates his own blessedness and happiness to others, for in the next life all affections and thoughts are communicated and perceived faultlessly. Each individual therefore communicates his own joy to all others, and so do all to each individual. Consequently each individual is so to speak the focal point of all. This is the heavenly form. The more there are to constitute the Lord’s kingdom therefore, the greater the happiness, for this grows in proportion to the increase in numbers. This is why heavenly happiness is indescribable. Such communication of all with individuals and of individuals with all exists when one loves another more than himself. But if anyone wishes to better himself rather than others, self-love reigns which communicates nothing of itself to others but the idea of self, which is a most foul idea. And when this is perceived that person is instantly separated and expelled.

AC (Elliott) n. 550 550. Just as every single part in the human body contributes to the general and to the individual functions of the whole, so it is with the Lord’s kingdom, which resembles a human being and is also called the Grand Man. In that kingdom every one contributes in a multitude of ways, more nearly or more remotely, to the whole, doing so according to the order established and constantly upheld by the Lord alone, and so contributes to the happiness of every individual.

AC (Elliott) n. 551 551. The relatedness of the whole of heaven to the Lord, and of every single member to Him alone, corporately and each individually, gives rise to order, union, mutual love, and happiness; for in this case individuals are looking to the welfare and happiness of all, and all to that of individuals.

AC (Elliott) n. 552 552. I have been shown by means of many experiences that all joy and happiness in heaven come from the Lord alone. Let one of those experiences be recounted here. I was watching certain angelic spirits who were totally absorbed in making a lampstand with its lamps and flowers fashioned most decoratively to the honour of the Lord. I was allowed to observe for an hour or two how much work they put into it so that every single detail might be beautiful and representative. While they were doing it they thought that they were acting of themselves. But I was given to perceive quite clearly that of themselves they could not possibly design anything. At last after several hours they said that they had made a very beautiful representative lampstand to the honour of the Lord, which delighted them from the depths of their being. But I said that they had in no way designed or created anything of themselves. The Lord alone had done so on their behalf. At first they were hardly willing to believe it, but because they were angelic spirits, they saw the light and confessed that it was true. The same applies to all other representatives, and to affection and thought in every part, and so to heavenly joys and happiness. The smallest of them all derive from the Lord alone.

AC (Elliott) n. 553 553. In heaven those who are moved by mutual love are constantly approaching the spring-time of their youth. And the more thousands of years they live the more joyful and happy the spring-time which they are approaching. This process continues for ever, constantly bringing increases in joy and happiness in proportion to the advance and upward progress in mutual love, charity, and faith. Those of the feminine sex who have died worn out with age but who had lived in faith in the Lord, in charity towards the neighbour, and in happy conjugial love with their husbands, as the years pass by come more and more into the first freshness of youth and early womanhood, and into a beauty that excels every idea of beauty which the eye can possibly behold. In fact it is goodness and charity forming and producing a likeness of itself, and causing the joy and beauty of charity to shine out of every individual feature of the face in such a way that these too are forms of charity. When some people have seen these they have been dumbfounded.

[2] The form which charity takes is so plainly visible in the next life that charity itself is that which produces the form, as well as being that which is portrayed within it. Indeed that form is such that the whole of an angel, especially the face, is so to speak charity – charity which is visible to the eye and perceptible to the mind. When it is beheld that form is one of indescribable beauty which stirs with charity the inmost life itself of the beholder’s mind. Through the beauty of that form truths of faith are displayed in a visual image from which they also are perceived. People who have lived in faith in the Lord, that is, faith that inheres in charity, in the next life become such forms, that is, forms of beauty. All angels are such forms, endlessly varying; and it is these forms that constitute heaven.

GENESIS 6:1-8

1 And so it was that man began to multiply himself over the face* of the ground, and daughters were born to them.

2 And the sons of God saw the daughters of man that they were fair, and took wives for themselves from all whom they chose.

3 And Jehovah said, My spirit will not reprove man for ever, in that he is flesh; and his days will be a hundred and twenty years.

4 The Nephilim were in the land in those days, very much so after the sons of God went in to the daughters of man, who bore children to them; they were mighty men (vir) who from of old were men (vir) of the name.

5 And Jehovah saw that the evil of man had been increased on the earth; and all the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the day long.

6 And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7 And Jehovah said, I will wipe out man whom I have created from upon the face’ of the ground, from man even to beast, even to creeping thing, and even to birds of the air;** for I repent of having made them.

8 And Noah found grace in Jehovah’s eyes.
* lit. the faces
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 554 554. CONTENTS

The subject is the state of the people before the Flood.

AC (Elliott) n. 555 555. With the people where the Church existed evil desires, meant by ‘daughters’, began to reign. They also joined doctrinal matters concerning faith to their desires and in so doing they confirmed themselves in evils and falsities, meant by the statement about ‘the sons of God taking to themselves wives from the daughters of man’, verses 1, 2.

AC (Elliott) n. 556 556. Since man now had no remnants of good and truth it is foretold that he would be formed differently so that he would have remnants, meant by ‘a hundred and twenty years’, verse 3.

AC (Elliott) n. 557 557. People who immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their evil desires and who in consequence of this as well as of self-love conceived dreadful persuasions concerning their own superiority to others are the Nephilim, verse 4.

AC (Elliott) n. 558 558. As a result the will and perception of good and truth existed no more, verse 5.

AC (Elliott) n. 559 559. The Lord’s mercy is described by repenting and grieving in heart, verse 6. People came to be such that their desires and persuasions led inevitably to their annihilation, verse 7. Consequently so that the human race might be saved, a new Church meant by Noah was to arise, verse 8.

AC (Elliott) n. 560 560. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Before one can go any further, reference must be made to the Church as it was before the Flood. In general it went the same way as subsequent Churches, as the Jewish Church before the Lord’s Coming and the Christian Church after; that is, people corrupted and adulterated the cognitions of true faith. In particular as regards the member of the Church before the Flood, he conceived dreadful persuasions in the process of time and immersed the goods and truths of faith in filthy desires, to such an extent that scarcely any remnants resided with him. And once they had become such those people suffocated themselves so to speak, for nobody can live without remnants. Indeed, as already stated, it is remnants that make man’s life superior to that of animals; it is from remnants, or from the Lord through them, that anyone is enabled to be a human being, to know what good and truth are, and to reflect on individual things, and so to think and to reason. For remnants alone are what contain spiritual and celestial life.

AC (Elliott) n. 561 561. But what are remnants? Not only the goods and truths which one has learned from the Word of the Lord from early childhood onwards and so had imprinted in his memory, but also all resulting states, such as states of innocence from early childhood; states of love towards parents, brothers and sisters, teachers, and friends; states of charity towards the neighbour, and also of compassion on the poor and needy; in short, all states involving good and truth. These states, together with the goods and truths that have been imprinted in the memory, are called remnants, which the Lord preserves with a person and stores away in his internal man, though the person himself is not at all directly conscious of this. Here they are separated completely from the things that are the person’s own, that is, evils and falsities. The Lord so preserves all of those states with the individual that not even the least of them perishes. I have been given to know this from the fact that every one of man’s states from his infancy right through to extreme old age not only carries over into the next life but also reappears. Indeed those states are exactly the same as when he lived in the world. Thus not only are goods and truths in the memory carried over, but also all states of innocence and charity. And when states of evil and falsity, or wickedness and false notions, recur – for every single one of these as well, down to the smallest detail, is carried over and reappears – they are at that time moderated by the Lord through those states of innocence and charity. From all this it becomes clear that if a person possessed no remnants, he would inevitably be subject to eternal condemnation. See what has appeared already in 468.

AC (Elliott) n. 562 562. The people before the Flood were such that at length they possessed practically no remnants at all, the reason being that they were now of such a disposition that they became steeped in dreadful and abominable persuasions regarding everything that suggested itself to them or entered into their thinking. Consequently they had no wish at all to retreat from such persuasions. And indeed they were possessed so very greatly by self-love as to imagine that they themselves were like gods and that everything they thought was divine. Nowhere else has such persuasion arisen with any set of people before or since that time, for it is deadly or stifling. For this reason in the next life these people cannot possibly be where other spirits are, for when they are present, they deprive other spirits, by flowing in with their own most stubborn persuasions, of all ability to think. These along with other matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 563 563. When such persuasion gets a hold on someone it is like glue in which the goods and truths that would otherwise be remnants are stuck fast, and as a result remnants can no longer be stored away; and those that have been stored away cannot be of any use. For this reason when those people reached the summit of such persuasion they underwent annihilation caused by themselves, and were drowned by an inundation not unlike a flood. This is why their annihilation is compared to a flood, and is also described, according to the custom of the most ancient people, as ‘the Flood’.

AC (Elliott) n. 564 564. Verse 1 And so it was that man began to multiply himself over the face* of the ground, and daughters were born to them.

‘Man’ here means the human race at that period of time. ‘The face* of the ground’ means the whole of that area where the Church was. ‘Daughters’ here means the things that constituted the will of that man, and so means evil desires.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 565 565. ‘Man’ here means the human race at that period of time, in particular the race that was evil or corrupt. This becomes clear from the following verses,

My spirit will not reprove man for ever, in that he is flesh, verse 3;
The evil of man had been increased on the earth; and all the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil, verse 5;
I will wipe out man whom I have created, verse 7;

and in the next chapter,

All flesh creeping over the earth breathed its last; and every man, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life.* Gen. 7:21, 22.

Concerning man it has been stated already that the Lord alone is Man, and that by virtue of Him every celestial man or celestial Church is called man, as is every other man or Church. And the same applies also to every individual, of whatever faith, to distinguish him from animals. But nobody is man or different from animals except, as has been stated, by virtue of remnants, which are the Lord’s. Indeed remnants are what enable anyone to be called man; for it is on account of remnants which are the Lord’s and so are obtained from Him that even the worst human being is called a man. For without remnants a person is in no sense a man but an utter beast.
*lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 566 566. ‘The face* of the ground’ means the whole of that area where the Church was. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, for in the Word a careful distinction is made between ground (humus) and land or earth (terra). Whenever ‘ground’ is used it means the Church or some aspect of the Church. This too is the derivation of the name Man or Adam, which means ground. But when ‘land’ or earth’ occurs in the Word it frequently means where the Church or some aspect of the Church does not exist, as in Chapter 1 where the word ‘land’ alone is used, because the Church or regenerate person did not as yet exist. Not until Chapter 2 is the word ‘ground’ used because the Church has by now come into being. The same applies in the present verse and in verses 4, 23, of the next chapter, where it is said that every being was to be wiped off the face* of the ground, meaning within that area where the Church was; and in verse 7 of the next chapter, where the subject is the Church that is to be created, ‘to keep their seed alive on the face* of the ground’.** The same applies elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and will set them on their own ground. And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will inherit them on Jehovah’s ground. Isa. 14:1, 2.

This refers to the Church once it has come into being; but when in the same chapter the Church does not exist it is called the land, verses 9, 12, 16, 20, 21, 25, 26.

[2] In the same prophet,

And the ground of Judah will be a terror to Egypt. On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language*** of Canaan. Isa. 19:17, 18.

Here ‘the ground’ means where the Church exists, and ‘the land’ where it does not. In the same prophet,

The land will surely stagger like a drunken man. Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high, and the kings of the ground on the ground. Isa. 24:20, 21.

Here the meaning is similar. In Jeremiah,

Because of the ground which was cracked since there was no rain on the land, the farmers were put to shame, and covered their heads. Even the hind in the field has calved. Jer 14:4, 5.

Here ‘the land’ stands for that which includes the ground, and ‘the ground’ for that which includes the field.

[3] In the same prophet,

He led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north land and out of all the lands to where I have driven them. And they will dwell on their own ground. Jer. 23:8.

Here ‘land’ and ‘lands’ mean where Churches do not exist, ‘the ground’ where the Church or true worship does exist. In the same prophet,

I will render the remnants of Jerusalem, those who are left in this land, and those who are dwelling in the land of Egypt, and I will render them as a horror for evil to all the kingdoms of the land. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they are consumed from the ground which I gave to them and their fathers. Jer. 24:8-10.

‘The ground’ stands for doctrine and worship arising out of it. And something similar is found in 25:5 of the same book.

[4] In Ezekiel,

I will gather you out of the lands into which you have been scattered. And you will acknowledge that I am Jehovah when I bring you back to the ground of Israel, into the land which I lifted up My hand to give to your fathers. Ezek. 20:41, 42.

‘The ground’ stands for internal worship. It is called ‘the land’ when internal worship does not exist. In Malachi,

I will rebuke the devourer for you, and he will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground, nor will the vine in the field fail you. And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of that which is pleasing. Mal. 3:11, 12.

Here ‘land’ stands for that which includes, and so plainly stands for man who is actually called ‘the land’, when ‘ground’ stands for the Church or doctrine.

[5] In Moses,

Sing, O Nations, His people. He will reconcile His ground, His people. Deut. 32:43.

This clearly stands for the Church of the gentiles, which is called ‘the ground’. In Isaiah,

Before the boy knows to refuse evil and to choose good, the ground will be deserted which you loathe in the presence of its two kings. Isa. 7:16.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord. ‘The ground will be deserted’ stands for the Church or true doctrine of faith. The words ‘ground ‘and ‘field’ are clearly used in this way because they are places that are sown, as in Isaiah,

He will give rain for your seed with which you may sow the ground. Oxen and young asses tilling the ground . . . Isa. 30:23, 24.

And in Joel,

The field has been laid waste, and the ground has been mourning because the corn has been laid waste. Joel 1:10.

From these quotations it is now clear that ‘man’, who in Hebrew is called Adam from the word for ground, means the Church.
* lit. faces
** The Hebrew in Gen 7:3 in fact means earth or land. cf 722 below.
*** lit. lip.

AC (Elliott) n. 567 567. The whole of that region is called the area of the Church where people who have been instructed in the doctrine of true faith are situated, as the land of Canaan was when the Jewish Church was there, and as Europe is where the Christian Church is today. Lands or regions outside of them are not areas of the Church, or ‘the face of the ground’. Where the Church existed prior to the Flood becomes clear also from the lands which were encompassed by the rivers flowing out of the garden of Eden, rivers which are also frequently described in the Word as the boundaries to the land of Canaan. Where it was situated prior to the Flood is also clear from what follows that description, for example, from the reference to the Nephilim being in the land, whose presence then in the land of Canaan is clear from the statement in Num. 13:33 that the sons of Anak came from the Nephilim.

AC (Elliott) n. 568 568. ‘Daughters’ means the things that constituted the will of that man, and so means evil desires. This is clear from what has been stated and shown about sons and daughters at verse 4 of the previous chapter, where ‘sons’ meant truths and ‘daughters’ goods. ‘Daughters’ or goods constitute the will. But as is a person’s character so is his understanding and his will, and so therefore his ‘sons and daughters’. At the moment the subject is the corrupt human type who has no will but merely evil desire instead, which people imagine to be the will and actually call the will. For any attribute is determined by the nature of the subject to which it is attributed. As shown already, the human type to whom ‘daughters’ are attributed here is a corrupt type.

[2] The reason ‘daughters’ means things constituting the will, which are evil desires when the will for good is non-existent, while ‘sons’ means those constituting the understanding, which are delusions when the understanding of truth is non-existent, is that the female disposition and make-up is such that the will or evil desire reigns rather than understanding. Every one of their fibres runs in that direction; and it is their very nature. The male make-up however is such that the understanding or reason reigns; every one of their fibres too runs in that direction, and it is their very nature. Consequently the marriage of the two sexes is like that of the will and the understanding in the individual. And because nowadays the will for good does not exist, but only evil desire, when yet it is possible for something of the understanding or reason to exist, so many laws were for that reason laid down in the Jewish Church concerning the husband’s rights and the wife’s obedience.

AC (Elliott) n. 569 569. Verse 2 And the sons of God saw the daughters of man that they were fair, and took wives for themselves from all whom they chose.

‘The sons of God’ means doctrinal matters concerning faith, while ‘daughters’ here, as previously, means evil desires. ‘The sons of God saw the daughters of man that they were fair, and took wives for themselves from all whom they chose’ means that they joined doctrinal matters concerning faith to evil desires, indeed to every such desire.

AC (Elliott) n. 570 570. The sons of God’ means doctrinal matters concerning faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sons’, dealt with just above, and also from verse 4 of the previous chapter, where ‘sons’ meant the truths of the Church. Truths of the Church are matters of doctrine. These regarded in themselves were truths because those who are the subject here possessed them through what had been handed down to them from the most ancient people. It is for this reason that they are called ‘the sons of God’, and also because in relation to them evil desires are called ‘the daughters of man’. Here it is describing the character of those people, that is to say, they were people who immersed the truths of the Church, which are holy, in their own desires, and in so doing polluted them, while at the same time confirming assumptions of which they were thoroughly persuaded. Anyone can judge what the situation must have been from what he finds in himself and in others. People who persuade themselves of any idea also confirm themselves in that idea by everything which they imagine to be the truth, including things in the Word of the Lord. For when people cling to the assumptions they have adopted and of which they are persuaded, they make everything favour and support them. And the more anyone loves himself, the more immovable he becomes. The character of those people will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on along with their dreadful persuasions, which are such that, miraculously, they are never allowed to flow in by their reasonings – for if they do they slay the entire rationality of other spirits present – but only from their evil desires. From this it is clear what the statement means about the sons of God seeing the daughters of man that they were fair, and their taking wives for themselves from all whom they chose, namely that they joined doctrinal matters concerning faith to evil desires, indeed to every such desire.

AC (Elliott) n. 571 571. When anyone is such that he immerses the truths of faith in his own insane desires he renders truths unholy and deprives himself of remnants which, though with him still, cannot be brought out. For the instant they are brought out they in turn are rendered unholy by those things which are already profaned. For profanations of the Word create hard skin so to speak which blocks and absorbs into itself the goods and truths constituting remnants. This being so, let man be on his guard against profaning the Word of the Lord in which eternal truths are present that have life within them, though the person who is under the influence of false assumptions does not believe that they are truths.

AC (Elliott) n. 572 572. Verse 7 And Jehovah said, My spirit will not reprove man forever, in that he is flesh; and his days will be a hundred and twenty years.

‘Jehovah said, My spirit will not reprove man for ever’ means that man would be led in this fashion no longer. ‘In that he is flesh’ means because he became bodily-minded. ‘And his days will be a hundred and twenty years’ means that he ought to have remnants of faith. It is also a prediction concerning the future Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 573 573. That ‘Jehovah said, My spirit will not reprove man for ever’ means that man would be led in this fashion no longer is clear from what comes before and after. From what comes before it is clear that by immersing doctrinal matters or truths concerning faith in evil desires, they became people who could no longer be reproved, that is, no longer know what evil is. All ability to perceive truth and good had been wiped out by their persuasions; only that which was in keeping with their persuasions did they believe to be true. From what comes after it is clear that after the Flood the member of the Church was constituted differently. With him perception was replaced by conscience through which he could be reproved. Consequently ‘reproof by the spirit of Jehovah’ means an inner dictate, perception or conscience, and ‘the spirit of Jehovah’ the influx of truth and good, as in Isaiah also,

I will not contend eternally, nor will I be angry for ever; for the spirit from before Me would overwhelm, and I have made souls. Isa. 57:16.

AC (Elliott) n. 574 574. ‘Flesh’ means that man became bodily-minded. This is clear from the meaning of ‘flesh’ in the Word, where it is used to mean the whole of mankind in general and the bodily-minded man in particular. It is used to mean the whole of mankind in Joel,

I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Joel 2:28.

‘Flesh’ stands for mankind, ‘spirit’ for the influx of truth and good from the Lord. In David,

O You that hearest prayer, to You will all flesh come. Ps. 65:2.

Here ‘flesh’ stands for the whole of mankind. In Jeremiah,

Cursed is that man (vir) who trusts in man (homo) and makes flesh his arm. Jer. 17:5.

‘Flesh’ stands for mankind, ‘arm’ for power. In Ezekiel,

And all flesh will know. Ezek. 10:48, 49.

[2] In Zechariah,

Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah. Zech. 2:13.

Again ‘flesh’ stands for the whole of mankind. ‘Flesh’ stands for the bodily-minded man in particular in Isaiah,

The Egyptian is man (homo), and not God; and his horses are flesh and not spirit. Isa 31:3.

‘Flesh’ here indicates that their factual knowledge is concerned with things of the body. ‘Horses’ here and elsewhere in the Word stands for the rational. In the same prophet,

One will strike down on the right and will be hungry; and they will eat on the left, and they will not be satisfied. Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm. Isa. 9:20.

Here ‘flesh’ stands for the things that are man’s own, all of which are of a bodily nature. In the same prophet,

He will fat up from the soul even to the flesh. Isa. 10:18.

‘Flesh’ stands for bodily things. In the same prophet,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. A voice says, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. Isa. 40:5, 6.

‘Flesh’ stands for the whole of mankind as being bodily-minded.

[3] In the same prophet,

In fire Jehovah will dispute, and by His sword with all flesh, and the slain* of Jehovah will be multiplied. Isa. 66:16.

‘Fire’ stands for the punishment of evil desires, ‘sword’ for the punishment of falsities, and ‘flesh’ for the bodily things of man. In David,

God remembered that they were flesh, a spirit going away so that it did not turn back. Ps. 78:39.

This refers to the people in the wilderness who craved for flesh, that is, a bodily-minded people. Their craving for flesh represented their desire for bodily things alone, see Num. 11:32-34.
* lit. the pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 575 575. ‘The days of man were to be a hundred and twenty years’ means that he ought to have remnants of faith. At verses 3 and 4 of the previous chapter it was stated that ‘days’ and ‘years’ meant periods of time and states, and that the most ancient people meant states and changes in the states of the Church by the numbers which they compounded variously. The exact nature of their computation of things that had to do with the Church is one of those matters that have been lost. Here in like manner numbers of years occur, whose meaning nobody can possibly know unless he knows what is concealed in each of the numbers 1 to 12, and so on. It is quite apparent that they embody some arcanum or other, for in saying that they would live a hundred and twenty years this verse contradicts those that go before it. Nor subsequently did they live a mere hundred and twenty years, as is clear from what Chapter 11 says about those who lived after the Flood – that Shem lived 500 years after he beget Arpachshad, Arpachshad 407 years after he beget Shelah, Shelah 403 years as well after he beget Eber, and Eber 430 years after he beget Peleg. Chapter 9:28 says that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood; and other examples could be given. What the number 120 embodies however is clear merely from the numbers to and 12, for 120 is the product of 10 times 12. It means remnants of faith. In the Word the number ten has the same meaning as tenths, representing remnants which are preserved by the Lord within the internal man. And since these are the Lord’s alone they are holy. The number twelve means faith, that is, all things belonging to faith in their entirety. So this composite number means remnants of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 576 576. That the number ten means remnants, just as tenths do, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Many houses will be a desolation, large and beautiful ones, without inhabitant, for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and a homer of seed will yield an ephah. Isa. 5:9, 10.

This refers to the vastation of spiritual and celestial things. ‘Ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath’ stands for remnants of spiritual things being so few, while ‘a homer of seed will yield an ephah’ stands for remnants of celestial things being so few. In the same prophet,

And there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; and yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be however an uprooting. Isa. 6:12, 13.

‘The midst of the land’ stands for the internal man, ‘a tenth part’ for such a small quantity of remnants. In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, the bath containing a tenth of a homer; and the ephah a tenth of a homer, the measure for it shall be after the homer. And the fixed portion of oil, of the bath of oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezek. 45:10, 11, 14.

The quantities mentioned here relate to holy things, which are Jehovah’s. They mean different kinds of holy things. ‘Ten’ here means remnants of celestial things and so of spiritual things. For what are the specific numerical quantities mentioned in this and in previous chapters of this prophet where the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Temple are the subject, and in other prophets, and also in the various rites of the Jewish Church, if they do not contain sacred arcana?

[2] In Amos,

She has fallen, no more to rise, the virgin of Israel. Thus said the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes forth a thousand will have remnants of a hundred, and that which goes forth a hundred will have remnants of ten to the house of Israel. Amos 5:2, 3.

The word ‘remnants’ is used here, of which only a fraction will remain, for this is only a tenth part, or the remnants of remnants. In the same prophet,

I hate the pride of Jacob and his palaces, and I will shut up the city and all that is in it. And it will be that if ten men will have remained in one house, they will die. Amos 6:8, 9.

‘Ten’ stands for remnants that are not likely to remain. In Moses,

The Ammonite and the Moabite shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah; even the tenth generation belonging to them shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah forever. Deut. 23:3.

‘The Ammonite and the Moabite’ stands for the profanation of the celestial and the spiritual things of faith, the remnants of which have been dealt with already.

[3] From this it is clear that ‘tenths’ represents remnants, of which Malachi speaks as follows,

Bring all the tithes* to the treasure-house, that there may be plunder in My house, and let them put Me to the test in this matter whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you. Mal. 3:10.

‘That there may be plunder in My house stands for remnants in the internal man, which are likened to ‘plunder’ because they are implanted, so to speak, by stealth among so many evils and falsities; and by way of such remnants comes every blessing. The fact that the whole of a person’s charity comes to him by way of the remnants that are in the internal man was also represented in the Jewish Church by the requirement that once they had paid their tithes,* they were then to give to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, Deut. 26:12 and following verses.

[4] Since remnants are the Lord’ s alone, tenths are therefore called ‘Holiness to Jehovah’, and are spoken of in Moses as follows,

All the tithes* of the land – of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree – are Jehovah’s; they are Holiness to Jehovah. All tithes* of the herd and of the flock, every tenth one that passes under the (herdsman’s) staff shall be Holiness to Jehovah. Lev. 27:30, 32.

Since the Decalogue consisted of Ten Commandments, or Ten Words, and Jehovah wrote them on tablets, Deut. 10:4, remnants are meant; and the fact that they were written by the hand of Jehovah means that such remnants are the Lord’s alone. Their presence in the internal man was represented by the tablets.
* or tenths

AC (Elliott) n. 577 577. Twelve means faith, or those things in their entirety that belong to love and faith deriving from it. Many details from the Word may confirm this – the twelve sons of Jacob and their names, the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Lord’s twelve disciples. These matters however will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on, in particular in Gen. 29 and 30.

AC (Elliott) n. 578 578. These numbers alone show what the Word of the Lord includes within its bosom and inner recesses, namely arcana hidden away which are nowhere exposed to the naked eye. The same applies everywhere else, in that every expression contains things such as these.

AC (Elliott) n. 579 579. With the people who lived before the Flood, dealt with here, remnants were few and almost non-existent. This will be clear from matters which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be discussed later on. Because with them it was impossible for remnants to be preserved a new Church called Noah that would have remnants is foretold here. This too will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 580 580. Verse 4 The Nephilim were in the land in those days, very much so after the sons of God went in to the daughters of man, who bore children to them; they were mighty men (vir) who from of old were men (vir) of the name.

‘The Nephilim’ means those who, persuaded of their own prominence and superiority, treated everything holy and true as being worthless. ‘Very much so after the sons of God went in to the daughters of man, who bore children to them’ means at that time when they immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their own evil desires and formed false persuasions. They are called ‘mighty men’ on account of their self-love, and ‘from of old, men of the name’ means that such people had also existed previously.

AC (Elliott) n. 581 581. That ‘the Nephilim’ means those who, persuaded of their own prominence and superiority, treated everything holy and true as being worthless is clear from what comes before and directly after; that is to say, they immersed matters of doctrine in their own evil desires, which is what is meant by the statement about the sons of God going in to the daughters of man, who bore children to them. Persuasion concerning self and its own delusions also grows as more and more things enter in, till at length that persuasion is inerasable. And when doctrinal matters concerning faith are added as well, utterly persuasive assumptions cause them to treat everything holy and true as being worthless, and they become Nephilim. As has been stated, this set of people who lived before the Flood are such that all spirits are choked to death by their absolutely dreadful delusions which spread from them like a sphere that is poisonous and choking. Spirits are so choked to death by them that they do not know how to think, and as a result feel semi-dead. And unless the Lord by His Coming into the world had freed the world of spirits from so pernicious a set of people, no one could possibly have stayed on there, and so the human race, which the Lord governs by means of spirits, would have perished. Consequently these people are now detained in a hell beneath what looks like a misty solid rock, beneath the heel of the left foot. Nor do they ever try to escape. The world of spirits is accordingly free of that extremely dangerous crew. That crew and the thoroughly poisonous sphere of persuasions from it will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with as a separate subject.* These are the people called the Nephilim, and they treat all that is holy and true as being worthless.

[2] Further mention is made of them in the Word, though their descendants were called Anakim and Rephaim. The fact that they were called Anakim is clear in Moses,

The men who explored the land of Canaan said, We saw the Nephilim there, the sons of Anak who were descendants of the Nephilim; and in our own eyes we were like locusts, and so we were in their eyes. Num. 13:33.

The fact that they were called Rephaim is clear once again in Moses,

The Emim lived formerly in the land of Moab, a people great and many, and tall like the Anakim. The Rephaim were also considered to be as Anakim; and the Moabites called them Emim. Deut. 2:10, 11.

The Nephilim are not mentioned again, but the Rephaim are. In the Prophets the description of them fits what has been said about them already, as in Isaiah,

Hell beneath has been stirred up for you, to meet you as you come. He has roused the Rephaim for you. Isa. 14:9

This refers to the hell where such people are. In the same prophet,

The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To that end You have visited and destroyed them, and wiped out all remembrance of them. Isa. 26:14.

This also refers to that hell of theirs from which they will never rise up again. And in the same prophet,

Your dead will live, my corpse will rise again. Wake up and sing, O inhabitants of the dust. For Your dew is a dew of herbs. But You will cast away the land of the Rephaim. Isa. 26:19.

‘The land of the Rephaim’ is that self same hell. In David,

Will You work a wonder for the dead? Will the Rephaim rise up and confess You? Ps. 88:10.

This similarly refers to that hell of theirs and to the fact that they can never again rise up and contaminate the atmosphere of the world of spirits with the utterly dreadful poison of their persuasions. Provision has been made by the Lord however to prevent the human race ever again being steeped in such dreadful delusions and persuasions. But the people who lived before the Flood were of such a nature and disposition that they were able to be steeped in them, for reasons until now unknown to anybody, which too will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.
* i.e. in 1265-1272

AC (Elliott) n. 582 582. ‘After the sons of God went in to the daughters of man, who bore children to them’ means at that time when they immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their own evil desires and became Nephilim. This is clear from what has been stated and shown just above at verse 2, that is to say, ‘the sons of God’ means doctrinal matters concerning faith, while ‘daughters’ means evil desires. Nothing else is born of this union than their treating the holy things of faith as worthless and their profaning them. For a person’s desires which stem from self-love and love of the world stand utterly opposed to all that is holy and true. Moreover evil desires prevail with man, and therefore when the holy and true which have been acknowledged by him are immersed in such desires he is done for, since these cannot be rooted out and dispersed. They cling to every one of his ideas, and in the next life it is ideas that are communicated from one person to another. Consequently as soon as any idea of what is holy and true is brought out, so too is the unholiness and falsity attached to it, which is perceived instantly. Consequently such people have to be separated and forced down into hell.

AC (Elliott) n. 583 583. ‘The Nephilim’ were called ‘mighty’ on account of their self-love. This too is clear from many passages in the Word where such people are called ‘mighty’, as in Jeremiah,

The mighty ones of Babel have ceased fighting; they are seated in their strongholds; their might is deserting them, they have become like women. Jer. 51:30.

Here also ‘the mighty ones of Babel’ stands for those who are eaten up with self-love. In the same prophet,

A sword against the liars, and they will go mad. A sword against her mighty ones, and they will be thrown into confusion. Jer. 50:36.

In the same prophet,

I have seen it. They have been thrown into confusion and are turning backward. Their mighty ones have been crushed and have surely fled, and they have not looked back – terror all around! The swift will not flee away, nor the mighty one escape. Mount your horses, and drive your chariots madly on; let the mighty ones go forth – Cush, Put, the Ludim. Jer 46:5, 6, 9.

This refers to persuasion resulting from reasonings. In the same prophet,

How do you say, We are mighty, and men of strength for war? Moab has been laid waste. Jer. 48:14, 15.

In the same prophet,

The city has been taken and its strongholds, possession has been taken of it. The heart of the mighty ones of Moab on that day will be like the heart of a woman in labour. Jer 48:41.

Chapter 49:22 similarly speaks of ‘the heart of the mighty ones of Edom’. In the same prophet,

Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and has reclaimed him from the hand of one mightier than himself. Jer 31:11.

Here a different [Hebrew] expression is used for ‘mighty’. The fact that the Anakim, who descended from the Nephilim, were spoken of as ‘mighty ones’ is clear in Moses,

You are crossing the Jordan today, going to dispossess nations greater and more numerous than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, Who will stand before the sons of Anak? Deut. 9:1, 2.

AC (Elliott) n. 584 584. Verse 5 And Jehovah saw that the evil of man had been increased on the earth, and all the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the day long.

‘Jehovah saw that the evil of man had been increased on the earth’ means that the will for good started to go out of existence. ‘All the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the day long’ means that there was no perception of truth and good.

AC (Elliott) n. 585 585. That ‘the evil of man had been increased on the earth’ means that the will for good started to go out of existence is clear from what has been stated before about no will existing any longer, but only evil desire, and also from the meaning of ‘man on the earth’. In the literal sense ‘the earth’ is where mankind is, in the internal sense, where love is. And because love consists either in the will or else in evil desire, ‘the earth’ stands for man’s will itself. In fact it is from willing rather than from knowing and understanding that a person is human, for knowing and understanding flow from his willing. Anything that does not flow from his willing, he does not wish to know or to understand. Indeed when he says or does something other than what the wills there is still something of the will, remote from speech and action, which governs him. That the land of Canaan, or the Holy Land, stands for love and so for the will of the celestial man may be confirmed from many places in the Word; and in like manner that the lands of various nations stand for their loves, which taken in general are self-love and love of the world. But as this point occurs so frequently there is no need to delay over it here. From these considerations it is clear that ‘the evil of man on the earth’ means his natural evil, which resides in the will, and which is said to have ‘increased’, because that natural evil had not become so bad with every one – though their intentions were selfish – that they did not wish good to others. ‘The imagination of the thoughts of his heart’ however means that such perversity became complete.

AC (Elliott) n. 586 586. ‘The imagination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the day long’ means that there was no perception of good and truth, the reason being, as has been stated and shown, that they immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their filthy desires. Once this had happened all perception perished, its place being taken by dreadful persuasion, that is, firmly fixed and lethal delusions, which also brought about their extinction and suffocation. Such deadly persuasion is here meant by ‘the imagination of the thoughts of his heart’. But when ‘the imagination of the heart’ stands alone without the expression ‘of the thoughts’ the evil which belongs to self-love or to evil desires is meant, as in Chapter 8 below where, after Noah had offered burnt offerings, Jehovah said,

I will curse the ground no more on account of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood. Gen. 8:21.

[2] ‘Imagination’ is that which a person fashions for himself and of which he persuades himself, as in Habakkuk,

What profit is a graven image since its image-worker has graven it, a metal image and a teacher of lies, since the image-worker trusts in his own imagination to make dumb idols? Hab. 2:18.

‘A graven image’ means false persuasions resulting from ideas conceived and hatched by self. ‘An image-worker’ is someone who persuades himself, to whom ‘imagination’ has reference. In Isaiah,

O your perversity! Surely the potter will not be regarded as the clay, that the thing made will say to its maker, He did not make me? Or that the work of his imagination will say to its image-worker, He had no understanding? Isa. 29:16.

‘Imagination’ here stands for thought originating in the proprium and for resulting false persuasion. In general ‘imagination’ is that which a person conceives from the heart or will, and also from his thinking or persuasion, as in David,

Jehovah knows our imagination, and remembers that we are dust. Ps. 103:14.

In Moses,

I know his imagination which he is performing this day, before I bring him into the land. Deut. 31:21.

586[a] Verse 6 And Jehovah repented* that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

‘He repented’ means mercy; ‘He was grieved in heart’ has a similar meaning. ‘Repenting’ has regard to wisdom, ‘grieving in heart’ to love.
* repent is not used in this section in the sense of being penitent or contrite over personal wrong-doing but in the sense of sorrow or regret over any past decision or course of action.

AC (Elliott) n. 587 587. That ‘Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth’ means mercy, and that ‘He was grieved in heart’ has a similar meaning, is clear from the consideration that Jehovah foresees from eternity every single thing and therefore never repents. When He made man, that is, created him anew and perfected him to the point of his becoming celestial, He also foresaw that in the process of time he would become the kind of person described here. And because He foresaw the kind of person he would become, He could not repent. This is quite clear in Samuel,

Samuel said, The Invincible One of Israel does not lie, and He will not repent, for He is not a man (homo) that He should repent. 1 Sam. 15:29.

And in Moses,

God is not a man (vir), that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not act? Or has He spoken, and will He not carry it out? Num. 23:19.

‘Repenting’ however means having mercy.

[2] Jehovah’s, that is, the Lord’s mercy includes every single thing which the Lord does towards the human race, whose condition is such that He has mercy on it, on each according to his state. He has mercy therefore on the state of the person He allows to be punished, as He does on that of the person on whom He confers the enjoyment of good. Being punished is a manifestation of mercy because it turns all evil that is being punished towards good. And conferring the enjoyment of good is a manifestation of mercy too, because nobody merits anything good at all. In fact the whole human race is evil, with everyone, if left to himself, rushing into hell. Consequently it is by mercy that anyone is rescued from that place, and by nothing other than mercy, since the Lord does not need anyone to help Him. The word mercy (misericordia) is used therefore because mercy rescues a person from misery (miseriae) and from hell, and so is used with respect to the human race whose condition is such, and it is the product of love towards all because all are such.

AC (Elliott) n. 588 588. The Lord is referred to as repenting and grieving in heart however because all human mercy seems to involve those feelings. Consequently as is the case many times elsewhere in the Word, the manner of speaking here is in accordance with the outward appearance. Nobody can know what the Lord’s mercy is, for it infinitely transcends all human understanding. But one does know what human mercy is; it is repenting and grieving. And unless a person grasps the idea of mercy from some different feeling whose nature he knows, he can have no possible conception of it and so cannot learn anything about it. This is the reason why human characteristics are frequently attributed to Jehovah, or the Lord – for example, that Jehovah or the Lord punishes, leads into temptation, destroys, and burns with anger, when in fact He never punishes anybody, never leads anybody into temptation, never destroys anybody, and never burns with anger. Now seeing that such things are attributed to the Lord, repentance and grief may be attributed as well, for the attribution of the one follows on from that of the other, as is quite clear from the following places in the Word:

[2] In Ezekiel,

My anger will be accomplished, I will make My wrath die down again, and I will repent. Ezek. 5:13.

Here, because ‘anger’ and ‘wrath’ are attributed to Him, ‘repenting’ is attributed as well. In Zechariah,

As I thought to do Evil when your fathers provoked Me to anger, said Jehovah Zebaoth, and I did not repent, so again I will think in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Zech. 8:14, 15.

Here it is said that Jehovah ‘thought to do evil’, when in fact He never thinks to do evil to anyone, but good to every single human being. And when Moses sought to placate the face* of Jehovah, Turn from the heat of Your anger, and repent over the evil of Your people. And Jehovah repented over the evil which He said He would do to His people. Exod. 32:12, 14.

Here also the heat of anger, and consequently repentance, is ascribed to Jehovah. In Jonah,

The king of Ninevah [said], Who knows, God may turn and repent, and turn from the heat of His anger, and we shall not perish! Jonah 3:9.

Here similarly ‘repentance’ is attributed to Him because ‘anger’ is also.

[3] In Hosea,

My heart has turned within Me, and at the same time My repentings have been kindled; I will not execute the heat of My anger. Hosea 11:8, 9.

Here ‘repentings having been kindled’, said of the heart, is similar in meaning to ‘He was grieved in heart’. ‘Repentings’ clearly stands for abundant mercy. Similarly in Joel,

Return to Jehovah your God, for He is gracious and merciful, long-suffering, abounding in mercy, and repenting of evil. Joel 2:13.

Here again ‘repenting’ quite clearly means mercy. In Jeremiah,

It may be they will listen and every man turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil. Jer. 26:3.

‘Repent’ stands for having mercy. In the same prophet,

If that nation turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil. Jer. 18:8.

Here also ‘repenting’ stands for having mercy on them if only they would turn back, for it is man who turns the Lord’s mercy away from himself. It is never the Lord who turns it away from man.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 589 589. These and so many other places in the Word make it clear that the manner of speaking is in accordance with the outward appearances that are proper to man. Consequently anyone who wishes to confirm false assumptions from the outward appearances according to which the Word speaks could do so from countless places. Confirming false assumptions from the Word is one thing however, believing in simplicity what the Word contains is quite another. Anybody confirming false assumptions first of all adopts an assumption and then refuses to withdraw from it or to retract the smallest detail. Instead he scrapes together and piles up confirmatory material wherever he can, doing so even from the Word, till at length his self-persuasion renders him incapable any more of seeing the truth. Anybody however who believes in simplicity, or simple-heartedly, has no preconceived assumptions. Instead he thinks that because the Lord has said it, it is the truth. And if he is shown by means of other statements in the Word how the matter is to be understood, there and then he assents to it and in his heart rejoices. The person therefore who believes in simplicity that the Lord is angry, punishes, repents, and grieves, and in so believing fears evil and does what is good, comes to no harm. For by believing all this of the Lord he also believes that the Lord sees every single thing. And that being his faith, he is after that enlightened in all other matters of faith, in the next life if not already in this. It is quite different in the case of people who, prompted by filthy self-love or by love of the world, persuade themselves of what results from preconceived assumptions.

AC (Elliott) n. 590 590. ‘Repenting’ has regard to wisdom, while ‘grieving in heart’ has regard to love. This cannot be explained intelligibly except by reference to the things that exist with man, and so by means of appearances. Every idea comprising a person’s thought contains something from the understanding and something from the will, that is, something from his thinking and something from his love. Any idea which does not draw something from his will or love is not an idea, for there is no other possible manner in which he can think. A kind of permanent and indissoluble marriage exists between thought and will, so that inhering within or else adhering to the ideas comprising thought are the things which belong to his will or love. This situation existing with man enables one to know, or rather seems to make it possible to form some idea of what constitutes the Lord’s mercy, namely wisdom and love. Thus in the Prophets, especially in Isaiah, dual expressions for everything occur almost everywhere, the one embodying what is spiritual, the other what is celestial. The spiritual side of the Lord’s mercy is wisdom, the celestial side love.

AC (Elliott) n. 591 591. Verse 7 And Jehovah said, I will wipe out man whom I have created from upon the face* of the ground, from man even to beast, even to creeping thing, and even to birds of the air;** for I repent of having made them.

‘Jehovah said, I will wipe out man’ means that man would bring about his own end. ‘Whom I have created from upon the face* of the ground’ means mankind among the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. ‘From man even to beast, and even to creeping thing’ is the fact that everything belonging to his will would bring about his end. ‘Even to birds of the air’** is everything belonging to the understanding or thought. ‘For I repent of having made them’, as previously, means compassion.
* lit. the faces
**lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 592 592. ‘Jehovah said, I will wipe out man’ means that man would bring about his own end. This is clear from what has been stated already, that is to say, about statements made to the effect that Jehovah or the Lord punishes, tempts, does evil, wipes out or slays, and curses; for example, the statement that Jehovah slew Er, Judah’s firstborn, and Onan, Judah’s second son, Gen. 38:7, to; or the statement that Jehovah smote all the firstborn of Egypt, Exod. 12:10, 29. Also in
Jeremiah,

Those whom I smote in My anger, and in My fierce anger. Jer. 33:5.

In David,

He let loose on them His fierce anger, exceeding anger, and rage, and distress, a mission of evil angels. Ps. 78:49.

In Amos,

Will evil befall a city, and Jehovah has not done it? Amos 3:6.

In John,

Seven golden bowls full of the anger of God who lives for ever and ever. Rev. 15:1, 7; 16:1.

All of these qualities are attributed to Jehovah when in fact He is quite the reverse of them. They are attributed to Him for the reason already given, and also so that people may grasp first of all the very general idea that the Lord rules over and disposes every single thing there is. Then after that they may grasp the idea that the Lord never does evil, let alone slays anyone, but that instead it is man who brings evil upon himself, destroys, and slays himself. In one sense it is not man who does so but the evil spirits who incite him and lead him on. Yet in reality it is the man, for what else does he believe than that he himself does what he does? So then it is here said of Jehovah that He would wipe out man, though in fact it was man who would destroy himself and bring about his own end.

[2] The situation in this matter becomes particularly clear from those in the next life who are living in torment and in hell. They are constantly complaining and ascribing to the Lord all the evil that punishes. And so do evil spirits in the world of evil spirits who take delight, indeed it is their chief delight, in hurting and punishing others. And those who are being hurt and punished assume that it is sent by the Lord. They are told and shown that not a hint of evil comes from the Lord, but that they bring the evil upon themselves. For in the next life all is counterbalanced in such a way that evil recoils on the one who commits it, and becomes evil that punishes. Punishment is therefore inevitable. It is said to be permitted for the sake of correcting evil; yet all the time the Lord is converting all evil that punishes into good, with the result that nothing but good ever comes from the Lord. What permission is however nobody as yet knows. What is permitted is considered to be something done by Him who permits simply because He does permit it. But in reality the situation is altogether different, a subject which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 593 593. ‘Whom I have created from upon the face* of the ground’ means mankind among the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. This is clear not only from the use of the word ‘created’ in the phrase ‘man whom He created’, that is, whom He regenerated, and subsequently from the use of the word ‘made’ in the phrase ‘whom He made’, that is, whom He perfected or regenerated to the point of his becoming celestial; but also from the use of the expression ‘from upon the face* of the ground’. The ground is where the Church is, as shown already. It is additionally clear from the fact that the subject is the people who immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their own evil desires. Those however who had no doctrine of faith were unable to act in this fashion. For people outside of the Church have no knowledge of truth and good, and those who do not have that knowledge can have a type of innocence even when they say or do something that is contrary to the truths and goods of faith. For they can be inspired with zeal for the system of worship which they have been brought up in since early childhood, and which they therefore suppose to be true and good. But in the case of people who do possess a doctrine of faith the matter is altogether different, for they are capable of mixing truths with falsities, and sacred things with profane. For this reason their lot in the next life is far worse than that of those called gentiles, who in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be considered later on.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 594 594. ‘From man [even] to beast and even to creeping thing’ means that everything belonging to his will would bring about his end. This is clear from the meaning of ‘man’, ‘beast’, and ‘creeping thing’. Man is not human except by virtue of his will and understanding, which set him apart from animals. In all other respects man and animals are very similar. With the people of those times all will for good and all understanding of truth perished. Insane desires took the place of the will for good and insane delusions took the place of the understanding of truth, and these delusions and desires were mingled together. Consequently after they had destroyed their remnants in this way so to speak, they were inevitably destroyed. It is clear from what has been shown already about beasts and creeping things that whatever belongs to the will is called ‘beasts and creeping things’. Here however because of the kind of man who is the subject ‘beasts’ does not mean good but evil affections, that is, evil desires, and ‘creeping things’ means pleasures both of the body and of the senses. That beasts and creeping things have such meanings requires no further confirmation from the Word, since they have been dealt with already; see 45, 46, 142, 143.

AC (Elliott) n. 595 595. ‘Birds of the air’* means everything belonging to the understanding or thought; see what has been presented already in 40.
* lit. Bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 596 596. Verse 8 And Noah found grace in Jehovah’s eyes.

‘Noah’ means a new Church. ‘He found grace in Jehovah’s eyes’ means that the Lord foresaw that the human race could in that way be saved.

AC (Elliott) n. 597 597. ‘Noah’ means a new Church, which must be called the Ancient Church to distinguish between the Most Ancient Church before the Flood and the Church that followed it. The states of those two Churches were entirely different. The state of the Most Ancient Church was one in which people had from the Lord a perception of good and of truth deriving from it, while that of the Ancient Church, or Noah, came to be one in which it had a conscience concerning good and truth. The nature of the difference between having perception and having conscience is what determined the difference in state between the Most Ancient Church and the Ancient.

[2] Perception is not the same as conscience. Celestial people have perception, spiritual people conscience. The Most Ancient Church was celestial whereas the Ancient was spiritual. The Most Ancient Church possessed immediate revelation through direct contact with spirits and angels, and also through visions and dreams from the Lord. These experiences enabled them to know in a general way what good and truth were, and once they knew them in this general way their general or so to speak primary matters of knowledge were confirmed by means of countless details acquired through perceptions. These countless details constituted the particular and the individual aspects of the general knowledge to which they had reference. In this manner general or so to speak primary knowledge was being corroborated day by day. If anything was not in keeping with general matters of knowledge they perceived that it was not; and if anything was in keeping they perceived that it was. Such is also the state of celestial angels.

[3] The general, so to speak primary, matters of knowledge of the Most Ancient Church were celestial and eternal truths: for example, that the Lord governs the whole universe; that the Lord is the source of all good and truth; that the Lord is the source of all life; that man’s proprium was nothing but evil, and in itself something dead; in addition to other general truths such as these. And they received from the Lord a perception of countless considerations confirming and harmonizing with these truths. For those people love was the chief thing of faith, and through love they were allowed by the Lord to perceive anything that was a matter of faith. Consequently faith to them was love, as stated already. The Ancient Church however became entirely different. That difference will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 598 598. ‘He found grace in Jehovah’s eyes’ means that the Lord foresaw that the human race could in that way be saved. The mercy of the Lord entails and looks to the salvation of the whole human race; and so does His grace. Consequently, the salvation of the human race is meant. ‘Noah’ means not only a new Church but also the faith of that Church, which was a faith that inhered in charity. The Lord accordingly foresaw that it would be possible for the human race to be saved by means of faith that inhered in charity. Such faith will be dealt with later on.

[2] In the Word however a distinction is made between mercy and grace, a distinction which depends in fact on differences in those who are their recipients. Mercy applies to those who are celestial, but grace to those who are spiritual, for celestial people acknowledge nothing other than mercy, while spiritual acknowledge hardly anything other than grace. Celestial people do not know what grace is, while the spiritual scarcely know what mercy is, for they make mercy and grace to be one and the same. The reason for the difference springs from each one’s humility. People in whom there is humility of heart plead for the Lord’s mercy, but those in whom there is humility of mind (cogitatio) seek His grace. Or if the latter do plead for mercy they do so in a state of temptation or with the lips only and not with the heart. Since the new Church called Noah was not celestial but spiritual, it is not said to have found mercy but to have found grace in Jehovah’s eyes.

[3] The distinction made in the Word between mercy and grace is clear from very many places where Jehovah is said to be merciful and gracious, as in Ps. 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; Joel 2:13. The same distinction is made elsewhere, as in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, when He went to give rest to Israel. From afar Jehovah appeared to me. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with mercy. Jer. 31:2, 3.

Here ‘grace’ has reference to what is spiritual and ‘mercy’ to what is celestial. In Isaiah,

Therefore Jehovah will wait to grant you grace, and therefore He will exalt Himself to be merciful to you. Isa. 30:18.

Here similarly ‘grace’ has regard to what is spiritual and ‘mercy’ to what is celestial. And further on [in Genesis] where Lot is addressing the angels,

Behold now, Your servant has found grace in Your eyes, and You have magnified Your mercy which You have shown to me in causing my soul to live. Gen. 19:19.

Here also it is clear that since he is spoken of as ‘having found grace in Your eyes’ grace has regard to spiritual things which are matters of faith or of the understanding. And since the expressions ‘to have magnified mercy’ and ‘to have caused my soul to live’ are used, it is equally clear that mercy has regard to celestial things, which are matters of love or of the will.

GENESIS 6:9-22

9 These are the generations (nativitates) of Noah. Noah was a righteous and blameless man (vir) among members of his own generation (generationes). And Noah walked with God.

10 And Noah beget three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 And the earth* was corrupt before God, and the earth* was filled with violence.

12 And God saw the earth,* and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.*

13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth’ is filled with violence before their faces. And behold, I am destroying them together with the earth.*

14 Make yourself an ark of planks of gopher; you shall make the ark with rooms and cover it** inside and out with bitumen.

15 And thus shall you make it: three hundred cubits the length of the ark, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height.

16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit above; and you shall set the door of the ark in the side of it; lowest, second, and third storeys you shall make it.

17 And I, behold, am bringing a flood of waters over the earth, to
destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life*** from under the heavens; everything that is on earth will breathe its last.

18 And I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

19 And of every living creature of all flesh, pairs of all, you shall cause to enter the ark, to keep them alive with you; male and female they shall be.

20 Of birds according to their kinds, and of beasts according to their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. Pairs of all shall come in to you to keep them alive.

21 And take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself, and it will be food for you and them.

22 And Noah did according to all that God commanded him; he did so.
* or the land
** lit. bitumen it
*** lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 599 599. CONTENTS
The subject is the state of the Church called Noah, before its regeneration.

AC (Elliott) n. 600 600. The member of that Church is described as someone who was able to be regenerated, verse 9. But from that Church there arose three classes of doctrine, which are Shem, Ham, and Japheth, verse 10.

AC (Elliott) n. 601 601. No one surviving from the Most Ancient Church was able to be regenerated on account of his dreadful persuasions and filthy desires, verses 11, 12. By means of these he would destroy himself completely, verse 13.

AC (Elliott) n. 602 602. Not so the member of the Church called Noah, who is described by the ark, verse 14. The remnants existing with him are described by the measurements mentioned in verse 15, and his intellectual concepts by the window, door, and rooms, in verse 16.

AC (Elliott) n. 603 603. He was to be preserved when the rest would perish in a deluge of evil and falsity, verse 17.

AC (Elliott) n. 604 604. The truths and goods residing with him would be preserved, verse 18, and so through regeneration the things which constituted the understanding and which constituted the will, verses 19, 20, which he was to be made ready to receive, verse 21. This was accordingly done, verse 22.

AC (Elliott) n. 605 605. THE INTERNAL SENSE
The subject now is the formation of a new Church which is called Noah. The formation of it is described by the ark into which living creatures of every kind were admitted. But before that new Church could come into existence, the member of the Church, as is normal, had inevitably to undergo many temptations, which are described by this ark’s being lifted up, carried along, and coming to a stop, on the waters of the flood. At length this member of the Church became a true spiritual man, one who had been set free, which is meant by the waters subsiding, and further details that follow. Nobody who keeps merely to the sense of the letter is able to see this, the chief reason being here that all those details are linked together as a tale of history, and give the idea of historical events. But the style belonging to that period – a style that gave them the greatest pleasure – was such that everything was embodied in allegory and woven together as a historical tale. And the better everything held together as an undivided tale the more it appealed to those people. For in those early times people were not so much inclined towards the things known today but to profounder thoughts whose offspring were the kind of things mentioned here. This was what constituted the wisdom of men of old.

AC (Elliott) n. 606 606. The Flood, the ark, and therefore descriptions concerning the Flood and the ark, mean regeneration, and also the temptations that precede. This is something learned men of today are aware of, for they too compare regeneration and temptations to the waters of a flood.

AC (Elliott) n. 607 607. The character of that Church is described later on, but in order that some notion of it may be gained at this point let a brief description be given here. The Most Ancient Church, as has been stated, was celestial whereas this Ancient Church became spiritual. Whereas the Most Ancient Church possessed perception of good and truth this Church had instead of perception a different kind of dictate, which may be called conscience.

[2] Something as yet unknown to the world and perhaps hard to believe is that the member of the Most Ancient Church possessed internal breathing, but no external breathing except that which was soundless. Consequently people spoke not so much by means of vocal utterances, as they did in later times and as they do nowadays, but like angels, by means of ideas. They were able to express ideas by means of countless alterations in their facial expressions and in their looks, and especially by means of alterations of the lips where there are innumerable threads of muscular fibres which are all knotted up nowadays but which had freedom of movement in those times. They were in this way able to present, mean, and represent inside a minute things which nowadays take an hour by the use of articulated sounds or utterance. And they did so far more fully and more clearly to the comprehension and understanding of those present than can possibly be done with words or sentences. This is perhaps hard to believe but is nevertheless the truth. There are also many others who do not originate from this earth who spoke and still do so today in this manner. These in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on.

[3] I have been given to know also the nature of that internal breathing and how in course of time it was changed. And because their manner of breathing resembled that of angels who breathe in that kind of way, profound ideas constituted their thought, and they were able to have perception, such as defies description. Consequently if such a description were attempted it would not be comprehended nor therefore believed either. Among their descendants however that internal breathing gradually passed away, and with those who were obsessed with dreadful persuasions and delusions it became such that they were incapable any longer of presenting any idea comprising thought except the very grotesque. The outcome of this was their inability to survive, and so all of them were wiped out.

AC (Elliott) n. 608 608. When internal breathing came to an end, external breathing practically the same as that today gradually took its place. And with external breathing came vocal speech or articulated sounds, which encapsulated the ideas comprising thought. In this way man’s state was changed completely, and he became such as to be incapable any longer of possessing perception of that kind. Instead of perception he had a different kind of dictate, which may be called conscience, for though similar to conscience, it was in fact something half-way between perception and conscience as some people know it today. And once such an encapsulation of the ideas comprising thought had taken place, that is to say, within vocal speech, people could not be taught any longer by way of the internal man, as the most ancient people had been, but by way of the external. Consequently the revelations that the Most Ancient Church received were succeeded by matters of doctrine which had first of all to be apprehended by the external senses. These would produce material ideas in the memory, from which the ideas comprising thought were formed, such ideas being the means by which they were taught. Consequently the mental constitution of this Church was altogether different from that of the Most Ancient Church which it succeeded. And unless the Lord had brought the human race into that mental disposition or condition nobody at all could possibly have been saved.

AC (Elliott) n. 609 609. Since the state of the member of this Church which is called Noah was completely altered from that of the member of the Most Ancient Church, he was no longer able, as has been stated, to be informed and enlightened in the way that the most ancient people had been. For internal things had been closed so that he no longer had any communication with heaven apart from that of which he was not immediately conscious. As a consequence he could not be taught except by an external or sensory way, which is that of the senses, as has been stated. For this reason, through the Providence of the Lord, doctrinal matters concerning faith, together with some of the revelations made to the Most Ancient Church, were preserved for the use of these descendants. These matters of doctrine were gathered together initially by ‘Cain and stored away to prevent their being destroyed. Hence the statement in reference to Cain that ‘a sign was set upon him lest anyone should kill him’, as may be seen where these matters are discussed in Chapter 4:15. Subsequently they were arranged into a doctrinal system by ‘Enoch’, and since such doctrine was to be used not at that period of time but by descendants, it is therefore said that ‘God took him’. These matters also may be seen where they are discussed in 5:24. These doctrinal matters concerning faith were what the Lord preserved for the use of these descendants or Church. For the Lord foresaw that perception would perish, and therefore also made provision for such matters of doctrine to stay in existence.

AC (Elliott) n. 610 610. Verse 9 These are the generations (nativitates) of Noah. Noah was a righteous and blameless man (vir) among members of his own generation (generationes). And Noah walked with God.

‘The generations of Noah’ means a description of the reformation or regeneration of the new Church. ‘Noah was a righteous and blameless man among members of his own generation’ means that he was such as could be endowed with charity, ‘righteous’ having regard to the good of charity, and ‘blameless’ to the truth of charity; while ‘members of his own generation’ has to do with faith. ‘Walking with God’ here, as previously when Enoch was the subject, means the doctrine of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 611 611. That ‘the generations of Noah’ means a description of the reformation or regeneration of the new Church is clear from what has been stated already at Chapter 2:4 and 5:1.

AC (Elliott) n. 612 612. ‘Noah was a righteous and blameless man among members of his own generation’ means that he was such as could be endowed with charity. This is clear from the meaning of ‘righteous’ and ‘blameless’, ‘righteous’ having regard to the good of charity, and ‘blameless’ to the truth of charity; also from the fact that the essential element of that Church was charity, in the Lord’s Divine mercy to be dealt with later on. That ‘righteous’ has regard to the good of charity and ‘blameless’ to the truth of charity is clear from the Word, as in Isaiah,

They will seek Me daily, and will desire the knowledge of My ways, as a nation that does righteousness and does not forsake the judgement of their God. They will ask of Me the judgments of righteousness, they will desire the approach of God. Isa. 58:2.

Here ‘judgement’ stands for things that have to do with truth, and ‘righteousness’ for those that have to do with good. ‘Doing judgement and righteousness’ became so to speak a stock phrase for truth and good, as in Isa. 56:1; Jer. 22:3, 13, 15; 23:5; 33:15; Ezek. 33:14, 16, 19. And the Lord said,

The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. 13:43.

This stands for people who are endowed with charity. Also in reference to the close of the age the Lord said,

The angels will come out and separate the evil from the midst of the righteous. Matt. 13:49.

Here also it stands for people who receive the good that stems from charity.

[2] ‘Blameless’ however means the truth that stems from charity. For truth can come from one of many other origins, but that which stems from the good of charity deriving from the Lord is called ‘blameless’ and ‘a blameless man’, as in David,

Who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and does righteousness and speaks truth in his heart. Ps. 15:1, 2.

This describes a person who is blameless. In the same author,

With the holy You behave in a holy way, and with a blameless man (vir). You show Yourself blameless. Ps. 18:15.

Here ‘a blameless man’ is one who is so by reason of what is holy, that is, good stemming from charity. In the same author,

Jehovah will withhold no good thing from those walking blamelessly. Ps. 84:11.

[3] A ‘blameless’ person is one who is true by reason of good, that is, one who speaks and does what is true from charity. This is clear from the fact that so many times the words ‘walking’, ‘way’, and also ‘upright’ or ‘uprightness’, words used in connection with truth, are applied to someone who is blameless or to blamelessness, as in David,

I will instruct the blameless in the way how far he shall come towards me. I will walk in the blamelessness of my heart within my house. Ps. 101:2.

And in verse 6 of the same Psalm,

He who walks in the way of the blameless will serve Me.

In the same author,

Blessed are the blameless in the way, walking in the law of Jehovah. Ps. 119:1.

In the same author,

Blamelessness and uprightness will protect me. Ps. 25:21.

In the same author,

Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright, for the latter end of that man is peace. Ps. 37:37.

From these quotations it is clear that someone who does what is good is called ‘righteous’, while someone who does truth deriving from it, which is the same as ‘doing righteousness and judgement’, is called ‘blameless’. ‘Holiness and righteousness’ belongs on the celestial side of faith, ‘blamelessness and judgement’ on the derivative spiritual side.

AC (Elliott) n. 613 613. That ‘members of his own generation’ has to do with faith is not evident from the sense of the letter, which sense is historical. Nevertheless because they are matters of a purely internal nature here, things that have to do with faith are meant. It is also clear from the train of thought that ‘generations’ here means nothing else. The same occurs several times in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Let those that be of you build the waste places of old; raise up the foundations of generation upon generation, and you will be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. Isa. 58:12.

All the details here mean things that have to do with faith. ‘The waste places of old’ means those on the celestial side of faith, ‘the foundations of generation upon generation’ at the same time meaning those on the spiritual side, and which had lapsed since ancient times. In the same prophet,

They will build up the waste places of old, they will raise up the former desolations, and they will renew the waste cities, the desolations of generation upon generation. Isa. 61:4.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,

They will not labour in vain, and they will not generate in sudden terror; for they will be the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. Isa. 65:27.

Here also ‘generating’ has reference to things that have to do with faith, and ‘labouring’ to those that have to do with love. ‘The seed of the blessed of Jehovah’ has reference to the latter, ‘offspring’ to the former.

AC (Elliott) n. 614 614. ‘Walking with God’ means the doctrine of faith. This may be seen in what has been stated already about Enoch at Chapter 5:22, 24, who also is said to have ‘walked with God’. In that context it meant the doctrine of faith that was preserved for the use of descendants; and as these are the descendants for whose use it was preserved the subject is now taken up once again.

AC (Elliott) n. 615 615. Described here in general is the nature of the member of this Church, not what he still in fact was but what he was capable of becoming, for what follows concerns the forming of such a man; that is to say, he was one on whom it was possible to confer charity through cognitions of faith, so that he could act from charity, and from the good which stems from charity recognize what truth is. This is why the good of charity, or being ‘a righteous person’, comes first, and the truth of charity, or being ‘a blameless person’, follows. As already stated, charity is love towards the neighbour, and mercy, and is a lower grade of the love found in the Most Ancient Church which was love to the Lord. In this way love assumed a lower position and became more external, and must be referred to as charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 616 616. Verse to And Noah beget three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

‘Noah beget three sons’ means that three classes of doctrine arose out of this, which are meant by Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

AC (Elliott) n. 617 617. That ‘Noah beget three sons’ means that three classes of doctrine arose out of this is clear from all that comes before it about names meaning nothing other than Churches, or what amounts to the same, systems of doctrine. The same applies here also. But here they are named purely for the sake of the sequence or connection with the details that precede. The connection is that the Lord foresaw that it would be possible for someone of this mental constitution to have charity conferred on him, but that nevertheless three classes of doctrine would be born of it. These doctrinal systems will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on where Shem, Ham, and Japheth are the subject.

AC (Elliott) n. 618 618. ‘Noah was righteous and blameless’, ‘he walked with God’, and now here ‘he beget three sons’, are statements in which the verbs are all in the past tense, even though they in fact have regard to things that were yet to be. It should be recognized that the internal sense is such that it carries no temporal connotations, a feature to which the original language also lends itself. Sometimes one and the same word there can apply to past, present, or future time, without using different words. In this way interior things come out more clearly into the open. That language derives this characteristic from the internal sense which is more manifold than anyone would ever credit. For this reason it does not allow itself to be limited by temporal connotations and distinctions.

AC (Elliott) n. 619 619. Verse 11 And the earth* was corrupt before God, and the earth* was filled with violence.
‘The earth’ means that set of people dealt with already. It is called ‘corrupt’ on account of dreadful persuasions, and ‘filled with violence’ on account of filthy desires. The name ‘God’ is used from here onwards in this chapter because no Church existed now.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 620 620. That ‘the earth’* means that set of people dealt with already is clear from what has been shown concerning the meaning of ‘the earth’* which is used very often in the and ‘the ground’. ‘The land’ is a term which is used very often in the Word, and means the land where the Lord’s true Church is, such as the land of Canaan. ‘The land’ may also mean where the Church is not, such as the land of Egypt, and the lands of the heathen nations, and so stands for the nation which inhabits the land. And since it stands for the nation, it also stands for any such individual who is there. It is called ‘a land’, for example, the land of Canaan, on account of heavenly love, and ‘the lands of the heathen nations’ are so called on account of loves that are foul. It is called ‘ground’ however on account of the faith sown in it. For, as has been shown, a land includes the ground, and the ground includes the field, just as love includes faith, and faith includes the cognitions of faith that are sown in it. Here ‘the earth’* stands for the people among whom heavenly love and the Church perished utterly. It is from the subject that one may know what is attributed to it.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 621 621. The earth* is called ‘corrupt’ on account of dreadful persuasions and ‘filled with violence’ on account of filthy desires. This is clear from the meaning of the expression ‘to corrupt’ and of the expression ‘violence’. In the Word one expression is never used for another. Without fail the exact one is used that properly expresses the matter under discussion. Indeed so true is this that from the very expressions that are used it is immediately evident what the internal sense contains, as in the case here with the expressions ‘to corrupt’ and ‘violence’. ‘To corrupt’ has reference to the things that- belong to the understanding once it has been made desolate, ‘violence’ to those that belong to the will once this has been laid waste. ‘To corrupt’ accordingly relates to persuasions, and ‘violence’ to evil desires.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 622 622. The relating of ‘to corrupt’ to persuasions is clear in Isaiah,

They will not do evil, and they will not corrupt in all My holy mountain, for the land will be full of the knowledge from Jehovah. Isa. 11:9.

And similarly in Isa. 65:25, where ‘doing evil’ has regard to the will or evil desires, ‘to corrupt’ to the understanding or false persuasions. In the same prophet,

Woe to a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, sons who deal corruptly! Isa. 1:4.

Here, as elsewhere, ‘nation’ and’ seed of evil-doers stand for evils constituting the will, which are evil desires, while ‘people’ and ‘sons who deal corruptly’ stand for falsities constituting the understanding which are persuasions. In Ezekiel,

You were more corrupt than they in all your ways. Ezek. 16:47.

Here ‘to corrupt’ relates to things of the understanding, reason, or thought, for ‘way’ is a term meaning truth. In David,

They have done what is corrupt, and they have done an abominable deed. Ps. 14:1.

Here ‘corrupt’ stands for dreadful persuasions and ‘abominable’ for the filthy desires which lie within the deed, or from which the deed originates. In Daniel,

After sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. And the people of the leader who is to come will corrupt the city and the sanctuary, and his end will come with a flood. Dan. 9:26.

In a similar way ‘to corrupt’ stands for false persuasions, to which ‘a flood’ has reference.

AC (Elliott) n. 623 623. It is clear from the Word that ‘the earth’ is said to be ‘filled with violence’ on account of their filthy desires, most of all on account of the desires constituting self-love, or extreme arrogance. It is called ‘violence when people do violence to holy things by desecrating them, as those before the Flood did, who immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in every possible kind of evil desire. As in Ezekiel,

I will turn My face* away from them, and they will profane My secret place. And let robbers come into it and they will profane it. Make the chain, for the land is full of the judgement of blood, and the city is full of violence. Ezek. 7:22-24.

This describes who the violent are, and that they are such as mentioned. In the same prophet,

They will eat their bread in anxiety, and drink their waters in desolation, that her land may be devastated of the fullness that is in it, on account of the violence of all who dwell in it. Ezek. 12:19.

‘The bread which they will eat in anxiety’ means celestial things, the waters which they will drink in desolation’ the spiritual things, which they did violence to, that is, profaned.

[2] In Isaiah,

Their webs will not become clothing, nor will they be covered in their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Isa. 59:6.

Here ‘webs’ and ‘clothing’ have reference to the things of the understanding or thought, while ‘iniquity’ and ‘violence’ have reference to those of the will or actions. In Jonah,

Let every one turn from his evil way, and from the violence which is in his hands. Jonah 3:8.

Here ‘evil way’ has reference to falsities constituting the understanding, and ‘violence’ to evils constituting the will. In Jeremiah,

There will come in a year, rumour and violence in the land. Jer. 51:46.

‘Rumour’ stands for things of the understanding, ‘violence’ for those of the will. In Isaiah,
He did no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Isa. 53:9.

Here ‘violence’ concerns things of the will, ‘deceit in his mouth’ those of the understanding.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 624 624. It is clear that a state which is not a state of the Church is the subject here from the fact that in this verse and those that follow in chapter the name God is used, whereas in previous verses it was Jehovah. When the Church does not exist the name God is used, but when it does exist, it is Jehovah; for example in Genesis 1, when the Church did not exist, He was called God, but in the next chapter when it did, He was called Jehovah God. ‘Jehovah’ is the holiest of names, and belongs to the Church alone. Not so ‘God’, for no nation was without gods. Consequently the same holiness was not attached to the name God. Nobody was allowed to utter the name Jehovah except him who had knowledge of the true faith; but anyone was allowed to utter the name God.

AC (Elliott) n. 625 625. Verse 12 And God saw the earth* and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth’ ‘God saw the earth*’ means God’s knowledge of man. ‘It was corrupt’ means that there was nothing but falsity. ‘For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth*’ means that man’s bodily-mindedness destroyed all understanding of truth.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 626 626. That ‘God saw the earth*’ means God’s knowledge of man may be clear to anyone, for God, who from eternity knows about every single thing, does not need to look and see whether man is such. Seeing is something human, and therefore, as stated at verse 6 and elsewhere, a manner of speaking in conformity with things as they are seen in man is used; so much so that He is even referred to as seeing with eyes.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 627 627. ‘For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth*’ means that man’s bodily-mindedness destroyed all understanding of truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘flesh’, dealt with already at verse 3, as in general the whole of mankind, and in particular the bodily-minded man, or everything of a bodily nature; and from the meaning of ‘way’ as the understanding of truth, or truth itself. The fact that ‘way’ has reference to the understanding of truth, or to truth itself, becomes clear from the examples already quoted in several places as well as from the following,

Jehovah said, Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people have corrupted themselves. They have suddenly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have cast for themselves a metal image. Deut. 9:11, 16.

This means that they forsook His commandments, which are truths.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Whose eyes have been opened upon all the ways of the sons of man, giving to every man (vir) according to his ways and according to the fruit of his works. Jer. 32:19.

‘Ways’ means life according to the commandments, ‘fruit of his works’ life based on charity. ‘Way’ accordingly has reference to truths, which comprise commandments and ordinances, and so do ‘son of man’ and ‘man’ (vir), as shown above. Jer. 7:3; 17:10, also contain similar usages.

In Hosea,

I will visit upon him his ways, and require him for his works. Hosea 4:9.

In Zechariah,

Return from your evil ways and from your evil works. As Jehovah Zebaoth thought to deal with us for our ways and for our works. Zech. 1:4, 6.

Similar phrases appear here, yet they are the contrary in meaning to those mentioned before them, since they are ‘evil ways’ and ‘evil works’.

In Jeremiah,

I will give them one heart and one way. Jer. 32:39.

‘Heart’ stands for goods, ‘way’ for truths. In David,

Make me understand the way of Your commandments. Take from me the way of untruth, and graciously grant me Your law. I have chosen the way of truth. I will run in the way of Your precepts. Ps. 119:26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35.

Here ‘the way of the commandments and precepts’ is called ‘the way of truth’, and the contrary of this, ‘the way of untruth’.

[3] In the same author,

Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah, teach me Your paths, guide my way in Your truth, and teach me. Ps. 25:4, 5.

This in like manner plainly stands for the truth. In Isaiah,

With whom did Jehovah consult, and he instructed Him, and taught Him the path of judgement, and taught Him knowledge, and made Him know the way of understanding? Isa. 40:14.

This plainly stands for an understanding of truth. In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Stand upon the highways and look, and ask concerning the paths of old, which is the good way, and go in it. Jer. 6:16.

This in like manner stands for an understanding of truth. In Isaiah,

I will lead the blind in a way they do not know; and in paths they do not know I will guide them. Isa. 42:16.

The expressions way, by-path, pathway, road, and street all have reference to truths because they lead to what is true, as also in Jeremiah,

They have caused them to stumble in their ways, in the pathways of old, going into by-paths and not the highway. Jer. 18:15.

Similarly in the Book of Judges,

In the days of Jael pathways ceased to be. And those who went along the paths kept to twisting pathways; the streets in Israel ceased to be. Judg. 5:6, 7.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 628 628. The internal sense here is this: Everybody on earth where the Church was, no matter who, had so ‘corrupted his way’ that he did not understand truth, for everybody had become bodily-minded. This included not only those dealt with in the previous verse, but also those called Noah who are dealt with in this verse and especially in the next; for before they had been regenerated they also were such. These details come first since the regeneration of these people is dealt with in what follows. Furthermore because little of the Church was left, the name ‘God’ is now used and not ‘Jehovah’. That nothing true existed is the meaning of the present verse, nothing good the meaning of the next. These did not exist except in the remnants that resided with those called Noah – for without remnants regeneration cannot take place – and also in the matters of doctrine known to them. There was no understanding of truth however, for this never exists except where there is the will for good. When will is lacking so is understanding, and the character of the will determines that of the understanding. With the most ancient people a will for good was present on account of their love to the Lord, and from this came an understanding of truth. Here however the understanding together with the will has perished entirely. Nevertheless some truth of a rational kind, and natural goodness, remained with those called Noah. Consequently they were also able to be regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 629 629. Verse 13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth* is filled with violence before their faces. And behold, I am destroying them together with the earth.*

‘God said’ means that it was so. ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me’ means that the human race would inevitably perish. ‘For the earth’ is filled with violence’ means that the will for good existed no longer. ‘Behold, I will destroy them together with the earth*’ means that the
human race would perish together with the Church.
* or the land

AC (Elliott) n. 630 630. That ‘God said’ means that it was so is clear from the fact that with Jehovah there is nothing else but Being (Esse).

AC (Elliott) n. 631 631. ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me’ means that the human race would inevitably perish. This is clear from the actual words themselves, and also from the meaning of ‘flesh’ as all mankind in general and the bodily-minded in particular, dealt with already.

AC (Elliott) n. 632 632. ‘The earth was filled with violence’ means that the will for good existed no longer. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already at verse 11 about the meaning of ‘violence’. The previous verse spoke about the understanding of truth, while the present verse speaks about the will for good, both of which perished with the member of the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 633 633. The situation is this: No understanding of truth or will for good resides with anyone, not even with those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church. When people become celestial however, they do seem to have a will for good and an understanding of truth residing with them.

But in reality it is the Lord’s alone, a fact they also know, acknowledge, and perceive, as is the case also with angels. This is so true that a person who does not know, acknowledge, and perceive it has no understanding of truth and will for good whatever. With every man, and with every angel, even the most celestial, his proprium is nothing but falsity and evil, for it is well known that in the Lord’s eyes even the heavens are not pure,* and that all good and all truth are the Lord’s alone. But to the extent that any man or angel is capable of being perfected, he is in the Lord’s Divine mercy perfected, and receives so to speak an understanding of truth and a will for good. His own possession of them however is only the appearance. Everybody is capable of being perfected, and consequently of receiving this gift of the Lord’s mercy, in so far as the deeds he actually performs in life will allow, and in a manner consistent with the hereditary evil implanted within him from parents.
* Job 15:15

AC (Elliott) n. 634 634. It is extremely difficult however to state intelligibly what the understanding of truth and the will for good are, properly speaking. The reason is that everything man thinks he ascribes to the understanding because he calls it so, and everything he desires he ascribes to the will because he calls it so. And it is even more difficult to state what they are in an intelligible way because the majority nowadays are also unaware that what belongs to the understanding is distinct and separate from what belongs to the will; for when they think something they say that they will it, and when they will something they say that they think it. Their speaking in this way is thus one reason for the difficulty. And a further reason why it is difficult to grasp the matter is that such people are engrossed solely in bodily interests, that is, their life consists in things of a more external nature.

[2] For these same reasons people are also unaware of the fact that with everybody there exists something interior, something more interior still, and indeed something inmost, and that the bodily and sensory part of a person is the most external. Desires and things of the memory are interior, affections and rational concepts more interior still, while the will for good and the understanding of truth are the inmost. Nothing could possibly be more distinct and separate than these are from one another, yet a bodily-minded man sees no difference at all, and so confuses them all with one another. This is the reason why he believes that when his physical body dies, everything else will die as well, when in reality only at that point does he start to live, and to do so indeed through his own interior things which are arranged in consecutive order. Unless man’s interior things were distinct and separate in this way and arranged consecutively, men could not possibly be spirits, angelic spirits, or angels in the next life, all of whom differ in this way from one another according to things that are interior. Consequently the three heavens are very distinct and separate from one another. From all these considerations it now becomes clear to some extent what the understanding of truth and the will for good are, properly speaking, and that they are attributable only to the celestial man, or angels of the third heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 635 635. All understanding of truth and will for good perished during the last days of the Church before the Flood. This is meant by what has been stated in the previous and present verses. The people before the Flood were so steeped in dreadful persuasions and filthy desires that not one trace of those goods and truths could be seen. But with those called Noah remnants were left, which however were unable to produce anything belonging to the understanding or the will, only rational truth and natural good. For a person’s character determines what it is that remnants can effect. By means of remnants those people were capable of being regenerated. There were no persuasions to thwart or swallow up the Lord’s activity by way of remnants. Persuasions, or deep-rooted false assumptions, impede all such activity, and unless they are rooted out beforehand a person cannot possibly be regenerated. These matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 636 636. ‘I will destroy them together with the earth’ means that the human race would perish together with the Church. This is clear from the fact that here the phrase ‘together with the earth’ is used. In fact, as previously stated, ‘earth’ in a broad sense means love and so the celestial things of the Church. Here because no love, nor anything celestial, was left it means self-love and that which is contrary to the celestial aspect of the Church. Despite this the member of the Church still existed because he possessed doctrinal matters concerning faith. For as has been stated, love includes faith within itself, and faith includes cognitions of faith, just as the earth includes the ground, and the ground includes the field.

AC (Elliott) n. 637 637. The implications of ‘I will destroy them together with the earth’ meaning that the human race would perish together with the Church are as follows: If the Lord’s Church had been completely wiped out on earth, the human race could not have remained in being at all, for all without exception would have perished. As previously stated, the Church is as the heart. As long as the heart is alive, surrounding organs and limbs are able to live as well. But the moment the heart dies, everything else dies as well. The Lord’s Church on earth is as the heart, and from it the human race, even that part of it lying outside of the Church, has life. The reason why is totally unknown to anybody. But so that something of this may be known, let it be said that the whole human race on earth is like the body and all its parts, with the Church resembling the heart. And if there were no Church, with which as a kind of heart the Lord might unite Himself by way of heaven and the world of spirits, there would be a severance; and once the human race was severed from the Lord it would perish instantly. This is the reason why since man was first created there has always been some Church in existence; and as often as the Church has begun to perish it has nevertheless remained with certain people.

[2] This was also the reason why the Lord came into the world. Unless, in His Divine mercy, He had come, the whole human race on this planet would have perished, for at that time the Church was nearing its end, and scarcely any good or truth was surviving. The reason the human race cannot possibly live unless it is joined to the Lord by way of heaven and the world of spirits is that regarded in himself man is even lower than animals. Left to himself he would rush to ruin himself and everybody else, for he has no other desire than to destroy himself and everybody else. His order ought to be as one person loving another as he does himself, but at present everyone loves himself more than others and so hates everybody else. Dumb animals are quite different however, for theirs is an order which they do live according to; and so they live wholly according to the order that is theirs, whereas man lives altogether contrary to order. Consequently unless the Lord had taken pity on man and by means of angels joined him to Himself he could not possibly live for a single moment. Of this man has no knowledge.

AC (Elliott) n. 638 638. Verse 14 Make yourself an ark of planks of gopher; you shall make the ark with rooms and cover it* inside and out with bitumen.

‘The ark’ means the member of this Church. ‘Planks of gopher’ means his lusts. ‘Rooms’ means the two parts of man – that of the will and that of the understanding. ‘Bitumening it inside and out with bitumen* means preservation from the deluge of evil desires.
* lit. bitumen it

AC (Elliott) n. 639 639. That ‘the ark’ means the member of this Church, or the Church called Noah, becomes sufficiently clear from the description of it below, and also from the fact that the Word of the Lord in every part embodies things that are spiritual and celestial, that is, the Lord’s Word is spiritual and celestial. If the ark and the covering of it with bitumen, its measurements, and its construction, and also the Flood, meant no more than what the letter declares there would be absolutely nothing spiritual and celestial about it. It would be mere history and of no more use to the human race than similar descriptions found in secular authors. Now because the Word of the Lord in every part contains and embodies within its bosom or inner recesses things that are spiritual and celestial it is quite clear that ‘the ark’ and everything said about the ark mean arcana which are as yet undisclosed.

[2] The same is meant elsewhere by, for example, the little ark in which Moses was hidden and which was placed in the reeds by the riverbank, Exod. 2:3; and the sacred Ark in the wilderness, constructed according to the design indicated to Moses on Mount Sinai, is an even more sublime example. Unless every single thing in this sacred Ark had been representative of the Lord and His kingdom, it would have been no more than a kind of idol, and the worship that took place would have been idolatrous. So too with Solomon’s Temple. Of itself it was in no sense holy. Nor did the gold, silver, cedar, and stone there make it so, but the particular things represented by those materials. And similarly in the present context, unless the ark and the construction of it with all its details meant some arcanum of the Church, the Word would not be the Word of the Lord but some dead piece of literature such as that found among the works of any secular author. From this it is clear that ‘the ark’ means the member of the Church, or the Church called Noah.

AC (Elliott) n. 640 640. That ‘planks of gopher’ means lusts, and that ‘rooms’ means the two parts of this man – that of the will and that of the understanding – nobody as yet knows. Neither can anyone see in what way they possess such meanings unless it is stated beforehand what the situation was with that Church. As stated quite often, it was from love that the Most Ancient Church knew anything that was a matter of faith, or what amounts to the same, it was from a will for good that it possessed its understanding of truth. But their descendants by heredity also derived a condition in which evil desires belonging to the will prevailed with them, desires in which they also immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith, and as a consequence became the Nephilim. When therefore the Lord foresaw that mankind would perish eternally if it continued in such a condition, He made provision for the will part to be separated from the understanding part, and for man to be formed, not as he had been formed previously by a will for good, but by having charity conferred on him through the understanding of truth, such charity looking very much like the will for good. This new Church called Noah came to be of such a nature, and so was of an entirely different disposition from the Most Ancient Church. In addition to this Church others also existed at that time, such as the one called Enosh dealt with already at Chapter 4:25, 26, and others again of which no such mention or description has come down to us. Only the Church of Noah is described here because it was altogether different in disposition from the Most Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 641 641. Since this member of the Church needed to be reformed as to that part of the man which is called the understanding before he could be reformed as to the other part referred to as the will, it is described here how those things belonging to the will were separated from those belonging to the understanding, and how the will was so to speak protected and held back to prevent anything coming in contact with it. For if things belonging to the will, that is, to evil desires, had been aroused, he would have perished, as in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be made clear later on. With man nothing could be more distinct and separate one from the other than those two parts, the will and the understanding. This I have been given to know plainly, especially from the fact that among spirits and angels things of the understanding flow into the left side of the head or brain, while things of the will flow into the right. The same applies to the face. When angelic spirits flow in they do so as softly as gentlest breezes. But when evil spirits do so it is like a deluge entering with dreadful delusions and persuasions into the left side of the brain, and with desires into the right. The influx of them is so to speak a deluge of delusions and desires.

AC (Elliott) n. 642 642. These considerations make clear what is embodied in this first description of the ark which shows that it was constructed from ‘planks of gopher’, had ‘rooms’, and was ‘bitumened with bitumen outside and in’, namely that the second part, which is that of the will, was preserved from the deluge, and that the only part open was that of the understanding, which is described in verse 16 by the window, the door, and the lowest, second, and third storeys. These matters are perhaps hard to believe because they have not as yet entered anybody’s thinking, and because people have no such conception of the Word of the Lord. Nevertheless they are absolutely true. Yet these are the least and most general of the arcana that mankind does not know. If the details were told them they would not grasp a single one.

AC (Elliott) n. 643 643. As for the meaning itself of these expressions – that ‘planks of gopher’ means lusts and ‘rooms’ the two parts of this man – this becomes clear from the Word. Gopher is a wood full of sulphur, as is the fir and others of that group. It is on account of the sulphur in it that it is said to mean lusts, for it catches fire easily. The most ancient people compared and likened those elements that exist with man to gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, his inmost celestial to gold, the lower celestial to bronze, and the lowest or bodily descending from this to wood, while the inmost spiritual they compared and likened to silver, the lower spiritual to iron, and the lowest degree of it to stone. When those objects are mentioned in the Word these are the things meant by them in the internal sense, as in Isaiah,

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isa. 60:17.

This refers to the Lord’s kingdom in which no such metals exist, but instead celestial and spiritual elements. It is quite clear that the latter are meant because of the reference to peace’ and ‘righteousness’. Here, gold, bronze, and wood correspond to one another and mean celestial elements or those belonging to the will, as has been stated. Silver, iron, and stone also correspond to one another, and mean spiritual elements or those belonging to the understanding.

[2] In Ezekiel,

They will spoil your riches, they will despoil your merchandise, your stones and your timbers. Ezek. 26:12.

It is quite clear that ‘riches’ and ‘merchandise’ do not mean material riches and merchandise, but celestial and spiritual ones. So also ‘stones’ and ‘timbers’ – ‘stones’ being things of the understanding and ‘timbers’ those of the will. In Habakkuk,

The stone cries out from the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork answers back. Hab. 2:11.

‘Stone’ stands for the lowest degree of the understanding, and ‘wood’ for the lowest degree of the will, which answers back when anything is drawn from sensory knowledge. In the same prophet,

Woe to him who says to a piece of mood, Awake! or to a dumb stone, Arise, this will teach! Behold, this is bound in gold and silver, and there is no spirit* at all in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in His holy temple. Hab. 2:19, 20.

Here also ‘wood’ stands for evil desire, ‘stone’ for the lowest degree of the understanding, and therefore ‘being dumb’ and ‘teaching’ are used in reference to that stone. ‘No spirit in the midst of it’ means that it represents nothing celestial or spiritual, like a temple in which there is stone and wood, overlaid with gold and silver, existing with people who give no thought to what those things represent.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Our waters we drink for silver, our timbers come for a price. Lam. 5:4.

Here ‘waters’ and ‘silver’ mean things of the understanding, ‘timbers’ those of the will. In the same prophet,

Who say to wood, You are my father; and to a stone, You gave birth to us. Jer. 2:27.

Here ‘wood’ stands for desire which belongs to the will, from which there is conception, and ‘stone’ for sensory knowledge, from which there is birth. All through the Prophets therefore ‘serving wood and stone’ stands for images carved out of wood or stone, which means that people were slaves to evil desires and to delusions. The Prophets also speak of ‘committing adultery with wood and stone’, as in Jer. 3:9. In Hosea,

The people inquire of their piece of wood, and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray. Hosea 4:12.

This stands for their inquiring of a wooden image, or evil desires. In Isaiah,

The tophet has been prepared since yesterday. Its pyre is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone. Isa. 30:33.

Here ‘fire’, brimstone’, and ‘wood’ stand for filthy desires.

[4] In general ‘wood’ means those elements which constitute the lowest parts of the will. Precious kinds of wood, such as cedar and so on, mean elements that are good – for example, the cedar timbers in the Temple, or the cedarwood used in cleansing leprosy, Lev. 14:4, 6, 7, or the wood cast into the bitter waters at Marah, by which the waters were made sweet, Exod. 15:25. These in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with in their proper places. Non-precious kinds of wood however, also those which were made into images, and those that were used for a pyre as well, and the like, mean evil desires, as do planks of gopher here on account of the brimstone or sulphur in them. As in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah’s vengeance – her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and her land will become burning pitch. Isa. 34:8, 9.

‘Pitch’ stands for dreadful delusions, ‘brimstone’ for filthy desires.
* or breath

AC (Elliott) n. 644 644. ‘Rooms’ means the two parts of man, that of the will and that of the understanding. This is clear from what has been stated about those two parts, will and understanding, being quite distinct and separate from each other, and from the fact, as has been stated, that the human brain therefore is divided into two parts called hemispheres. To its left hemisphere belong the powers of the understanding, to the right those of the will. This is the most general difference. In addition both will and understanding are divided into countless parts, for the divisions of the things constituting man’s understanding, and also of those constituting his will, are so many that not even the broad genera, still less the species, can possibly be described or counted up. Man is like some most miniature heaven. He corresponds to the world of spirits and to heaven, where all the groups and all the divisions of things constituting the understanding or the will are so distinct and separate, being so perfectly ordered by the Lord, that every smallest part is distinct and separate. These considerations in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on. In heaven these divided parts are called communities, in the Word ‘habitations’, and by the Lord in John 14:2 ‘rooms’. Here however because they have reference to the ark, which means the member of the Church, they are called ‘rooms’.

AC (Elliott) n. 645 645. ‘Bitumening it inside and out with bitumen’ means preservation from the deluge of evil desires. This is clear from what has been stated already. In fact the member of this Church had first of all to be reformed as regards the things of his understanding. This was why he was preserved from the deluge of evil desires which would have destroyed the whole work of reformation. The original text does not in fact read ‘bitumened with bitumen’, but uses an expression which denotes protection and is derived from a root meaning to make satisfaction or to appease, and so embodies the same idea. Satisfying or appeasing the Lord is protection from the deluge of evil.

AC (Elliott) n. 646 646. Verse 15 And thus shall you make it: three hundred cubits the length of the ark, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height. The numbers used here, as previously, mean that remnants were few. ‘Length’ is their holiness, ‘breadth’ their truth, and ‘height’ their good.

AC (Elliott) n. 647 647. It is bound to seem strange and very far-fetched to everybody that these details have this meaning, that is to say, that the numbers three hundred, fifty, and thirty mean remnants, and in particular that they were few; also that ‘length, breadth, and height’ means holiness, truth, and good. But in addition to what has been stated and shown above about numbers at verse 3 of this chapter, where a hundred and twenty means the remnants of faith, this matter may also become clear to anybody from the fact that people who possess the internal sense, as good spirits and angels do, are beyond anything earthly, bodily, or purely worldly, and so beyond anything involving numbers and measurements. Yet the Lord enables them to perceive the Word fully, and to do so quite independently from such concepts. This being so, it becomes quite clear that numbers and measurements embody celestial and spiritual things. The latter however are so remote from the sense of the letter that such things cannot possibly be seen. This applies to every single celestial or spiritual thing. From this also anyone may recognize how insane it is to desire to inquire into matters of faith through sensory evidence and factual knowledge and to refuse to believe unless one grasps them by that method.

AC (Elliott) n. 648 648. As for numbers and measurements in the Word meaning celestial and spiritual things, this becomes quite clear from the measuring of the New Jerusalem and of the Temple in John and Ezekiel. It may become clear to anyone that the ‘New Jerusalem’ and the ‘New Temple’ mean the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth, and that the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth is not subject to earthly measurements, even though the size of it – its length, breadth, and height – is specified numerically. From this anyone may conclude that numbers and measurements mean things that are holy, as in John,

I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and the angel stood and said to me, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it. Rev. 11:1.

And concerning the New Jerusalem,

The wall of the heavenly Jerusalem was great and high, having twelve gates, and above the gates twelve angels, and names written which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the apostles of the Lamb. He who talked to me had a golden measuring-rod to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall. The city lies four-square, and its length is the same as its breadth. He therefore measured the city with the measuring rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height were equal. He measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. Rev. 21:12-17.

[2] Here the number twelve occurs repeatedly. It is a very holy number since it means the holy things of faith, as has been stated above at verse 3 of this chapter, and in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be shown at Genesis 29 and 30. Hence also the comment added at the end of the quotation set out above about this measure being ‘the measure of a man, that is, of an angel’. The same applies with the New Temple and the New Jerusalem in Ezekiel, which are also described according to their measurements, Chapter 40:3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 22, 25, 30, 36, 42, 47; 41:1-end; 42:5-15; Zech. 2:1, 2. There also, regarded in themselves the numbers mean nothing but celestial and spiritual holiness independent of actual numbers. The same applies to all the numbers giving the dimensions of the Ark, Exod. 25:10, and similarly of the mercy seat, the golden table, the Tabernacle, the altar, Exod. 25:17, 23; Exod. 26 and 27:1; and to all the numbers and dimensions of the Temple, 1 Kings 6:2, 3, and many other examples.

AC (Elliott) n. 649 649. But here the numbers, or the measurements of the ark, mean nothing other than the remnants that existed with the member of this Church when he was being reformed, and in particular that they were few. This is clear from the fact that among those numbers five is predominant, which in the Word means some, or a little, as in Isaiah,

Gleanings will be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries on the top of the highest branch, four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree. Isa. 17:6.

Here ‘two or three’ and ‘five’ stands for a few. In the same prophet,

One thousand at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five will you flee, until you are left like a flagstaff on top of a mountain. Isa. 30:17.

This also stands for a few. The minimum penalty when making restitution was a fifth part, Lev. 5:16; 6:5; 22:14; Num. 5:7, and the minimum increase when they redeemed an animal, a house, a field, or tithes, was a fifth part, Lev. 27:13, 15, 19, 31.

AC (Elliott) n. 650 650. ‘Length’ means the holiness, ‘breadth’ the truth, and ‘height’ the good, of the remnants described by the numbers. This cannot be confirmed so easily from the Word because every single thing has reference to the particular subject or thing under discussion. For example, when ‘length’ applies to time it means perpetual and eternal, as in ‘length of days’ Ps. 23:6; 21:4, but when it applies to space it means consequent holiness. The situation is the same with ‘breadth’ and ‘height’. All earthly objects are three-dimensional, but no such dimensions can be used in reference to celestial and spiritual things. When they are used to refer to these they mean the degree of perfection, greater or less, independent of the dimensions given, as well as identity and quantity. In this case they are identified as remnants, which are few in quantity.

AC (Elliott) n. 651 651. Verse 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit above; and you shall set the door of the ark in the side of it; lowest, second, and third storeys you shall make it.

‘The window that was to be finished to a cubit above means the understanding part of the mind. ‘The door in the side of it’ means hearing. ‘The lowest, second, and third storeys’ means factual knowledge, rational concepts, and intellectual concepts.

AC (Elliott) n. 652 652. That ‘window’ means the understanding part, and ‘door’ hearing, and thus the subject in this verse is man’s understanding part, becomes clear from what has been stated already, namely that the member of this Church was reformed in the following way: In man life is twofold, one life being that of the will, the other that of the understanding. They come to be two when no will is present and evil desire takes the place of will. The second or understanding part is the one that is able in those circumstances to be reformed, and through this reformed understanding a new will can subsequently be conferred, with the result that they – that is to say, charity and faith – constitute one life. Now because man was such that no will was present and wholly evil desire existed instead, that part which is that of the will was closed, as stated at verse 14, while the second or understanding part was open; this is the subject in the present verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 653 653. The situation is that while a person is being reformed, which takes place by means of conflicts and temptations, the evil spirits associated with him at that time are such as activate nothing else but his factual knowledge and his rational concepts. At that time any spirits who activate evil desires are kept entirely at bay. For there are two kinds of evil spirits, namely those who work upon man’s reasonings and those who work upon his desires. The evil spirits who activate man’s reasonings draw out all his falsities and try to persuade him that the falsities are truths. Indeed they even convert truths into falsities. In times of temptation a person ought to fight against them, though it is the Lord who in fact fights by means of the angels who are allied to that person. After falsities have been separated by means of conflicts and so to speak dispersed, the individual is then ready and able to receive truths of faith. For as long as falsities rule, a person cannot possibly receive the truths of faith because false assumptions are blocking the way. Once he has been made ready and able to receive the truths of faith, heavenly seeds, which are the seeds of charity, can now for the first time be implanted. Seeds of charity cannot possibly be implanted in ground where falsities reign, only where truths do so. This is how the reformation or regeneration of a spiritual man takes place, and so how it took place with the member of that Church called Noah. This is why the subject now is ‘the window and the door of the ark’, and the lowest, second, and third storeys, all of which belong to the spiritual or understanding-type man.

AC (Elliott) n. 654 654. This is in keeping with what is well known in the Churches today about faith coming through hearing. But faith is in no sense mere intellectual awareness of the things that constitute faith, that is, of things that demand belief. That amounts to no more than knowledge. Faith is acknowledgement, yet acknowledgement cannot possibly exist with anyone unless the chief thing of faith resides with him, namely charity, or love towards the neighbour, and mercy. When charity is present so is acknowledgement, and so is faith. Anyone who thinks otherwise is as far from being aware of what faith is as land is distant from sky. When charity, which is the goodness constituting faith, is present, then acknowledgement, which is the truth of faith, is present too. When therefore a person is being regenerated in accordance with factual knowledge, rational concepts, and intellectual concepts, the end in view is that the ground, which is his mind, shall be made ready for receiving charity, from which, or rather from the life of which, he afterwards thinks and acts. At that point he has been reformed or regenerated, not before.

AC (Elliott) n. 655 655. The window that was to be finished to a cubit above’ means the understanding part of the mind. This may become clear to anyone from what has been stated so far, and also from the fact that when the subject is the construction of the ark and ‘the ark’ means the member of the Church, the understanding part cannot be compared to anything other than ‘a window above’. Similar examples occur in the Word in which man’s understanding part, that is, his internal sight – whether reason is present or mere reasoning – is called a ‘window’, as in Isaiah,

O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, I will make your suns (windows) of ruby, and your gates into carbuncle stones, and all your border into pleasant stones. Isa. 54:11, 12.

Here the word ‘suns’ is used instead of the word ‘windows’ because of the light sent in or through. ‘Suns’ or ‘windows’ here are intellectual concepts springing indeed from charity, which is why they are likened to a ruby. ‘Gates’ are rational concepts deriving from these, and ‘border’ is factual knowledge and sensory evidence. Here the subject is the Lord’s Church.

[2] All the windows of the Temple in Jerusalem had the same representation; the highest represented intellectual concepts, the middle rational concepts, while the lowest represented facts and sensory evidence, for there were three storeys, 1 Kings 6:4, 6, 8. Similarly the windows of the New Jerusalem, in Ezekiel 40:16, 22, 25, 33, 76. In Jeremiah,

Death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, cutting off the young child from the street and young men from the lanes. Jer. 9:21.

Here middle-storey windows are meant, which is to say that rational concepts are being destroyed. ‘The young child in the street’ is new-born truth. Since ‘windows’ means intellectual concepts and rational concepts, which are matters of truth, the same also means reasonings, which are matters of falsity, as in the same prophet,

Woe to him who builds his house in unrighteousness, and his upper rooms not in judgement, who says, I will build myself a wide house and spacious upper rooms, and he cuts out windows for himself, panelling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. Jer. 22:13, 14.

The ‘windows’ stands for false assumptions. In Zephaniah,

Herds of beasts will lie down in the midst of her, every wild beast of that nation. Both the spoonbill and the qippod* will lodge in her pomegranates.** A voice will sing in the window, vastation will be on the threshold. Zeph. 2:14.

This refers to Asshur and Nineveh. ‘Asshur’ stands for the understanding, here when it has been laid waste, while ‘a voice singing in the windows’ stands for reasonings based on false notions.
* The meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain.
** The original Hebrew word is thought to describe capitals shaped like pomegranates.

AC (Elliott) n. 656 656. ‘The door in the side’ means hearing. This is by now quite clear and so there is no need to confirm it by similar examples from the Word. For the relationship of the ear to inner sensory organs is like that of a door at the side to a window above, or what amounts to the same, the relationship of hearing, which is the function of the ear, to the understanding, which is the function of an inner sensory power.

AC (Elliott) n. 657 657. The lowest, second, and third storeys’ means factual knowledge, rational concepts, and intellectual concepts. In man there are three degrees in the understanding part; the lowest of these constitutes his factual knowledge, the middle his rational awareness, and the highest his intellectual awareness. These three are so distinct and separate from one another that they ought never to be confused. Man however is not directly conscious of this distinction, the reason being that he focuses life solely on sensory experience and factual knowledge. And as long as he clings to this attitude he is not even capable of recognizing that his rational awareness, still less his intellectual, is anything different from factual knowledge. Yet the situation is as follows: The Lord flows by way of man’s intellectual degree into his rational, and by way of the rational into factual knowledge belonging to the memory. And from there comes the life of the senses – of seeing and hearing. This is the true influx and the true interaction of the soul and the body. Without the influx of the Lord’s life into man’s intellectual concepts – or rather into the desires of the will, and by way of these desires of the will into intellectual concepts, and by way of intellectual concepts into rational concepts, and by way of rational concepts into his factual knowledge which belongs to the memory – no life can possibly exist with man. And even when a person is under the influence of falsities and of evils there is still this influx of the Lord’s life by the way of the desires of the will and intellectual concepts. But the things that flow in are received in the rational part according to the form the understanding takes. It is this influx also that enables a person to be rational, to reflect, and to understand what truth and good are. These matters however will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on, as also will life as it exists with animals.

AC (Elliott) n. 658 658. Those three degrees which in general are called those of the human understanding – that is to say, intellect, reason, and knowledge – are also meant, as has been stated, by the windows for the three storeys of the Temple in Jerusalem, 1 Kings 6:4, 6, 8. They are also meant in what has appeared earlier by the rivers that went out of the garden of Eden from the east, where ‘the east’ means the Lord, ‘Eden’ love which belongs to the will, ‘the garden’ resulting intelligence, and ‘the rivers’ wisdom, reason, and knowledge. For these matters, see what has been stated at Gen. 2:10-14.

AC (Elliott) n. 659 659. Verse 17 And I, behold, I am bringing a flood of waters over the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life* from under the heavens; everything that is on earth will breathe its last.

‘A flood’ means a deluge of evil and falsity. ‘To destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life’ from under the heavens’ means that all the descendants of the Most Ancient Church would destroy themselves. ‘Everything that is on the earth will breathe its last’ means those belonging to that Church who had become such.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 660 660. That ‘a flood’ means a deluge of evil and falsity is clear from what has been stated already about the descendants of the Most Ancient Church being possessed with filthy desires and immersing doctrinal matters concerning faith in them. This immersing led to false persuasions within them which annihilated all truth and good and simultaneously closed off the road for remnants and so made it impossible for them to do their work. It was inevitable therefore that these men would destroy themselves. When the road for remnants has been closed off a person is no longer human, for he can no longer be protected by angels but is wholly and completely possessed by evil spirits who long and desire to do nothing else but annihilate man. It was this that led to the death of the people who existed before the Flood, a death described by ‘a flood’ or utter deluge. Indeed the influx of delusions and desires from evil spirits is not unlike a flood. Consequently in various places in the Word that influx is called a flood or a deluge, as in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be seen in the preliminary remarks to the next chapter.*
* i.e. in 705

AC (Elliott) n. 661 661. ‘To destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life* [from] under the heavens’ means that all the descendants of the Most Ancient Church would destroy themselves. This is clear from what has just been stated and also from the description of them given already to the effect that step by step they obtained by heredity from their forefathers a mental constitution that resulted in their being steeped more than anybody else in most dreadful persuasions. This came about chiefly because they plunged into their desires the doctrinal matters concerning faith which they had in their possession; and in so doing became such. The situation has been utterly different with people who have no doctrinal matters concerning faith in their possession and who live altogether in ignorance. They are incapable of doing the same, and so are incapable of profaning holy things, and in so doing of closing off the road for remnants. Consequently they are not capable of driving the Lord’s angels away from themselves.

[2] As has been stated, remnants are all things of innocence, all those of charity, all those of mercy, and all those of the truth of faith, which a person has acquired from the Lord and learned since early childhood. Every single one of them lies stored away. And if a person did not acquire them, no innocence, charity, or mercy could possibly be present in his thinking and actions, and so no good and truth at all could be present. He would then be worse than any fierce monster, as he would also be if he did possess remnants of such things and yet so blocked their path with filthy desires and dreadful false persuasions that they could not do their work. Such was the nature of the people before the Flood who destroyed themselves and who are meant by ‘all flesh in which there is the spirit of life* [from] under the heavens’. As shown already, ‘flesh’ means the whole of mankind in general and the bodily-minded man in particular. ‘The spirit of life*’ means all life in general, but in a strict sense it was the life in people who had been regenerated. Here therefore the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church are meant. They are here called ‘the spirit of life*’ or, as in Chapter 7:22 below, ‘in whose nostrils is the breath of the spirit of life*’ because although no life of faith remained with them they nevertheless derived from their forefathers something of that Church’s seed, which they stifled. ‘Flesh under the heavens’ means that which is merely bodily, ‘the heavens’ being things constituting man’s understanding of truth and his will for good. When these have been separated from what is bodily, a person can stay alive no longer. That which sustains him is his conjunction with heaven, that is, with the Lord by way of heaven.
* lit. of lives.

AC (Elliott) n. 662 662. ‘Everything that is on the earth will breathe its last’ means those belonging to that Church who became such. This becomes clear from the fact that ‘the earth’ does not mean every land throughout the world but only those people who belonged to the Church, as shown already. No flood of any kind is meant here therefore, let alone a flooding of the whole world, but instead the decease or choking to death of those people there who when cut off from remnants, and so from things connected with the understanding of truth and with the will for good, were consequently cut off from the heavens. In addition to places already quoted from the Word, let the following also serve to confirm the fact that ‘earth’ means that area where the Church is, and therefore those who are there. In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, The whole earth will be desolate, yet I will not bring it to a close. For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black. Jer. 4:27, 28.

Here ‘the earth’ stands for people living where the Church is that has been vastated. In Isaiah,

I will jolt heaven, and the earth will be shaken out of its place. Isa. 13:13.

‘Earth’ stands for mankind which is to be vastated where the Church is. In Jeremiah,

The slain* of Jehovah on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. Jer. 25:33.

Here ‘the end of the earth’ does not mean every land throughout the world, only that area where the Church was, and consequently where members of the Church were. In the same prophet,

I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth. A clamour is coming even to the end of the earth, for Jehovah’s controversy is against the nations. Jer. 25:29, 31.

Nor is the whole world meant here, only the area where the Church is, and consequently where the inhabitant or member of the Church is. ‘The nations’ here stands for falsities. In Isaiah,

Behold, Jehovah is coming out of His place to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth. Isa. 26:21.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,

Do you not hear? Has it not been pointed out to you from the beginning? Do you not understand the foundations of the earth? Isa. 40:21.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah who creates the heavens, the God who forms the earth and makes it, the Same establishes it. Isa. 45:18.

‘Earth’ stands for the member of the Church. In Zechariah,

The Word of Jehovah who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zech. 12:1.

‘The earth’ obviously stands for the member of the Church. The earth is different from the ground in the way that the member of the Church is different from the Church itself, or as love and faith are different.
* lit. The pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 663 663. Verse 18 And I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ‘Establishing a covenant’ means that he would be regenerated. ‘He was to enter into the ark, he and his sons, [and his wife,] and his sons’ wives’ means that he would be saved, ‘sons’ being truths and ‘wives’ goods.

AC (Elliott) n. 664 664. In the previous verse the subject was those who would destroy themselves, but in this verse it is those who were to be regenerated and would accordingly be saved. They are called ‘Noah’.

AC (Elliott) n. 665 665. That establishing a covenant’ means that he would be regenerated becomes quite clear from the fact that the only kind of covenant that can exist between the Lord and man is conjunction by virtue of love and faith. And so a covenant means conjunction; indeed it is the heavenly marriage that is the supreme covenant of all. The heavenly marriage or conjunction does not show itself however except with people who are being regenerated. Regeneration itself therefore in the broadest sense is meant by a covenant. The Lord enters into a covenant with man when He regenerates him, and consequently among men of old a covenant had no other representation. From the sense of the letter no other impression is gained than that the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so often with their descendants, concerned just those personages. But those people were by nature such as to be incapable of being regenerated, for they focused worship exclusively on things that were external, and imagined external things to be sacred without things that are internal allied to them. Consequently the covenants made with them were no more than representations of regeneration, as were all their religious ceremonies, and as were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob themselves who represented the things of love and faith. In a similar way priests or high priests, whatever their character, including infamous ones, could represent the heavenly and most holy priesthood. In representations no attention is paid to the person who represents but to that which is represented by him. Thus all the kings of Israel and Judah, including the worst of them, represented the Lord’s kingship, and so indeed did the Pharaoh who promoted Joseph over the land of Egypt. These and many other considerations which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on show that the covenants made so often with the sons of Jacob were nothing more than religious ceremonies which were representative.

AC (Elliott) n. 666 666. ‘A covenant’ means nothing other than regeneration and the things that constitute regeneration. This becomes clear from many places in the Word where the Lord Himself is called ‘the Covenant’, for it is He alone who regenerates, to whom a regenerated person looks, and who is the All in all of love and faith. That the Lord is the Covenant itself is clear in Isaiah,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, taking You by the hand and keeping You, and I will give You for a Covenant of the people, a light of the nations. Isa. 42:6.

Here ‘a Covenant’ stands for the Lord, and ‘the light of the nations’ is faith. Similarly in Isa. 49:6, 8. In Malachi,

Behold, I am sending My angel, and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the Angel of the Covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Who will endure the day of His coming? Mal. 3:1, 2.

Here the Lord is called ‘the Angel of the Covenant’. In Exod. 31:16 the Sabbath is called an eternal covenant because it means the Lord Himself. It also means the celestial man who has been regenerated by Him.

[2] The Lord being the Covenant itself, it is clear that what constitutes the covenant is everything that joins a person to the Lord, that is to say, love and faith and the things that belong to love and faith. In fact these are the Lord’s and the Lord is within them, and so the Covenant itself exists within these, where they are received. These things do not exist except with someone who has been regenerated, with whom anything at all that is the Regenerator’s, or the Lord’s, constitutes the covenant, or is the covenant. As in Isaiah,

My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed. Isa. 54:10.

Here ‘mercy and covenant of peace’ means the Lord and things that are the Lord’s. In the same prophet,

Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live, and I will make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver to the peoples. Isa. 55:3, 4.

Here ‘David’ stands for the Lord. ‘The eternal covenant’ exists in and acts through those qualities that are the Lord’s, which are meant by ‘coming to Him’ and ‘hearing so that your soul may live’.

[3] In Jeremiah,

I will give them one heart and one way, to fear Me all their days, for their own good and that of their sons after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear into their heart. Jer. 31:39, 40.

This stands for those who are to be regenerated, and also for those things with someone regenerate which are ‘one heart and one way’, namely charity and faith, which belong to the Lord and so to the covenant. In the same prophet,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they rendered My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jer. 31:31-33.

This is an explicit statement of what constitutes the covenant – love and faith in the Lord, which will be present with him who is to be regenerated.

[4] In the same prophet love is called the covenant far the day, and faith the covenant for the night, Jer. 33. 20. In Ezekiel,

I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David will be prince in the midst of them; and I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezek. 34:24, 25.

This clearly refers to regeneration. ‘David’ stands for the Lord. In the same prophet,

David will be their prince for ever. I will make with them a covenant of peace, it will be an eternal covenant with them. I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. Ezek. 37:25, 26.

This similarly refers to regeneration. ‘David’ and ‘the sanctuary’ stand for the Lord. In the same prophet,

I entered into a covenant with you, and you were Mine. And I washed you with water and washed away your blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezek. 16:8, 9, 11.

This clearly stands for regeneration. In Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,* and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

This stands for regeneration. ‘Wild animals of the field’ stands for things of the will, ‘birds of the air’* for those of the understanding. In David,

He sent redemption to His people, He commanded His covenant for ever. Ps. 111:9.

This stands for regeneration. This is called ‘a covenant’ because it is something given and received.

[5] People however who have not been regenerated – or what amounts to the same, who focus worship on things that are external and who set up and worship as gods both themselves and everything they desire and think – are referred to, because they separate themselves from the Lord, as ‘rendering the covenant invalid’, as in Jeremiah,

They forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and bowed down to other gods and served them. Jer. 22:9.

In Moses,

He who transgressed the covenant by serving other gods, the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven, was to be stoned. Deut. 17:2 and following verses.

‘The sun’ stands for self-love, ‘the moon’ for false assumptions, ‘the host of heaven’ for falsities themselves. From this it is now clear what ‘the Ark of the covenant’ is, containing the testimony or covenant, namely the Lord Himself; what ‘the Book of the covenant’ is, namely the Lord Himself, Exod. 24:4-7; 34:27; Deut. 4:13, 23; what ‘the Blood of the covenant’ is, namely the Lord Himself, Exod. 24:6, 8; who alone is the Regenerator. Hence ‘a covenant’ is regeneration itself.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 667 667. ‘He was to enter into the ark, he and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives’ means that he would be saved. This is clear from what has been stated already, and from what follows, to the effect that he was saved because he had been regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 668 668. ‘Sons’ means truths and ‘wives’ goods. This also has been shown already at Chapter 5:4 where the phrase ‘sons and daughters’ is used. Here however it is ‘sons and wives’, for ‘wives’ are goods which have been joined to truths. Indeed no truth can ever be brought forth unless some good or delight exists for it to spring from. Within good and delight there is life, but not within truth apart from that which it derives from good and delight. It is from these that truth is given form and develops, even as faith, which is connected with truth, is given form by and develops out of love, which is connected with good. Truth is like light; there is no light apart from that which flows from the sun or flame. It is from these that light is given form. Truth is merely the form which good takes, and faith merely the form which love takes. The form that truth takes depends therefore on the character of its good, as does that of faith on that of its love or charity. This is the reason why ‘wife’ and ‘wives who mean goods that have been joined to truths are meant at this point. This also is why in the next verse reference is made to pairs of all, male and female, entering the ark, for without goods joined to truths regeneration does not take place.

AC (Elliott) n. 669 669. Verse 19 And of every living creature of all flesh, pairs of all, you shall cause to enter the ark, to keep them alive with you; male and female they shall be.

‘Living creature’* means things of the understanding, ‘all flesh’ those of the will. ‘Pairs of all you shall cause to enter the ark’ means the regeneration of these. ‘Male’ means truth, ‘female’ good.
* lit. living soul

AC (Elliott) n. 670 670. That ‘living creature’* means things of the understanding, and ‘all flesh’ those of the will, becomes clear from what has been stated already, and also from what follows. In the Word ‘living creature’ means all animal life in general, as in Chapter 1:10, 21, 24; 1:19. Here however, because the phrase ‘all flesh’ is added immediately after, it means things which belong to the understanding, for the reason given already, that the regeneration of the member of this Church had to begin in the things of the understanding. This also is why in the next verse ‘birds’ are mentioned first, which mean things of the understanding or the rational, and ‘beasts’, which are those of the will, second. ‘Flesh’ in particular means bodily-mindedness which is a feature of the will.
* lit. living soul

AC (Elliott) n. 671 671. ‘Pairs of all you shall cause to enter the ark to keep them alive means the regeneration of these. This becomes clear from what has been stated in the previous verse, to the effect that truths cannot be regenerated except by means of goods and delights. Nor therefore can things of faith be regenerated except through those of charity. Hence the statement here about pairs of all having to enter, clearly meaning that both truths, which belong to the understanding, and goods, which belong to the will, were to do so. With someone who has not yet been regenerated an understanding of truth and a will for good do not exist but merely appear to do so, and are referred to as such in everyday speech. It is possible for rational truths and for facts to exist with that person, but these have no life. It is also possible for goods which merely look like those of the will, such as those present with gentiles or even with animals, to exist there. But these have no life either; they are merely semblances. With man such things are in no sense alive until he has been regenerated and they have in this way been made alive by the Lord. In the next life what has life and what does not is perceived very distinctly. Truth that has no life is perceived instantly as something material, all tangled and closed up, while good that has no life is perceived as something wooden, bony, and stone-like. But truth or good made alive by the Lord is open, living, and full of what is spiritual and celestial – open even from the Lord Himself. This applies to every idea and action, even to the smallest of either of them. This is why the statement is here made about pairs having to enter the ark to keep them alive.

AC (Elliott) n. 672 672. ‘Male’ means truth and ‘female’ good. This has been stated and shown already. In every smallest part of man a kind of marriage exists. Whatever forms part of the understanding is coupled, as in a marriage, to some part of his will. Without such a coupling or marriage, nothing in the slightest is brought forth.

AC (Elliott) n. 673 673. Verse 20 Of birds according to their kinds, and of beasts according to their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. Pairs of all shall come in to you to keep them alive.

‘Birds’ means intellectual concepts, ‘beasts’ desires of the will, and ‘creeping thing of the ground’ the lowest of each of these. ‘two each of all shall enter in to keep them alive’ means, as previously, the regeneration of those things.

AC (Elliott) n. 674 674. It has been shown already in 40 that ‘birds’ means intellectual or rational concepts, and in 45, 46, 142, 143, 146, that ‘beasts’ means desires of the will, or affections. That ‘creeping thing of the ground’ means the lowest things of each of these may be evident to anyone from the consideration that what creeps along the ground is the lowest of all. That ‘pairs of all shall enter in to keep them alive’ means the regeneration of those things was stated in the previous verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 675 675. As regards the statement ‘birds according to their kinds, beasts according to their kinds, and [every] creeping thing according to its kind’ it should be recognized that with everybody countless genera and still more countless species exist of intellectual concepts and of desires of the will which are all quite distinct and separate from one another, though the individual is not conscious of it. In man’s regeneration however the Lord draws out every single thing in its proper order, separating them all from one another and arranging them so that they may be turned in the direction of truths and goods and may be joined to them. And this takes place varyingly according to people’s states, which are countless as well. Yet to all eternity all those things in man’s will and understanding can never be totally perfected, for each genus, each species, and each state consists of elements which are limitless both individually and even more so when combined with others. Man does not even know about this, still less can he know in what way he is regenerated. This is what the Lord tells Nicodemus about man’s regeneration, The spirit blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who has been begotten of the spirit. John 3:8.

AC (Elliott) n. 676 676. Verse 21 And take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself, and it will be food for you and them.

‘He was to take for himself of all food that is eaten’ means goods and delights. ‘He was to gather them to himself’ means truths. ‘It was to be food for him and them’ means both of these things.

AC (Elliott) n. 677 677. As regards the food of someone who is to be regenerated, the situation is this: Before anyone can be regenerated he must be supplied with all those things that can serve as means – the goods and delights which constitute affections as means for the will, and truths from the Lord’s Word, together also with matters of a confirmatory nature from other sources, as means for the understanding. Until a person has been supplied with these he cannot be regenerated. These are what constitute his food. This explains why a person is not regenerated until he has entered adult years. Everybody however has some particular food so to speak proper to himself, which the Lord provides for him before regeneration takes place.

AC (Elliott) n. 678 678. ‘He was to take for himself of all food that is eaten’ means goods and delights. This becomes clear from what has been stated about goods and delights, rather than truths, constituting a person’s life, for truths receive their life from goods and delights. The whole of a person’s factual knowledge or rationality, from infancy through to old age, is at no point instilled into him except through good and delight. And because it is from these that his soul receives life and is sustained they are called food, and are in reality food, for without them man’s soul cannot possibly live. This anyone may see who is willing to pay any attention to the matter.

AC (Elliott) n. 679 679. ‘He was to gather them for himself’ means truths. This is clear from what has been stated above, for ‘gathering’ has reference to the things that are in a person’s memory, where they have been gathered together. It embodies in addition the point that the former and the latter – goods and truths – need to be gathered together in man before regeneration takes place. Indeed unless goods and truths have been gathered together to serve as means through which the Lord may do His work, a person cannot possibly be regenerated, as has been stated. From this it follows then that ‘it was to be food for him and them’ means both goods and truths.

AC (Elliott) n. 680 680. The fact that goods and truths are man’s real food may be clear to anyone, for the person who is deprived of them has no life within himself, and is a dead man. The food on which the soul of the person feeds who is dead in this sense consists of the delights arising from evils, and of the pleasures gained from falsities. These are the food of death. These delights and pleasures also derive from bodily, worldly, and natural things, which have no life at all within them. Furthermore such a person does not know what spiritual and celestial food is. Every time ‘food’ or ‘bread’ is mentioned in the Word he assumes that food for the body is meant. In the words of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Give us our daily bread’, for example, he thinks purely of nourishment for the body. There are some whose ideas do extend further and who assert that this petition includes all other physical requirements, such as clothing, money, and so on. Indeed they will argue fiercely that no other kind of food is meant, even though they clearly see that the petitions coming before and after it entail purely celestial and spiritual things, and refer to the Lord’s kingdom, and possibly know as well that the Lord’s Word is celestial and spiritual.

[2] From this and other similar considerations it becomes sufficiently clear just how bodily-minded the man of today is, and that like the Jews, he is unwilling to accept anything stated in the Word except in a very crude and materialistic way. The Lord Himself clearly teaches what His Word means by ‘food’ and ‘bread’: He speaks of food in John as follows,

Jesus said, Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man gives you. John 6:27.

And of bread He says in the same gospel,

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread he will live for ever. John 6:49-51, 58.

Even today there are people who, like those who first heard these words, declare,

This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? And some drew back and no longer walked with Him. John 6:60, 66.

To those people the Lord said,

The words which I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

[3] It is similar with water, in that it means the spiritual things of faith: He speaks of water in John as follows,

Jesus said, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. John 4:13, 14.

Even today there are people like the woman to whom the Lord spoke at the spring, who replied,

Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw. John 4:15.

[4] In the Word ‘food’ means nothing other than spiritual and celestial food, which is faith in the Lord and love. This is clear from many places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

The enemy has stretched out his hand over all the desirable things of Jerusalem, because she saw the nations come into her sanctuary, concerning whom You did command, They shall not enter your congregation. All the people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food to restore the soul. Lam. 1:10, 11.

Here no other bread or food is meant than spiritual, for the subject is the sanctuary. In the same author,

I called to my lovers, they deceived me. My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city, for they sought food for themselves to refresh their soul. Lam. 1:19.

Here the meaning is similar. In David,

They all look to You to give them their food in due season. You givest to them – they gather it up. You openest Your hand – they are satisfied with good. Ps. 104:27, 28.

This in like manner stands for spiritual and celestial food.

[5] In Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isa. 55:1.

Here ‘wine and milk’ stands for spiritual and celestial drink. In the same prophet,

A virgin is conceiving and bearing a son, and you will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will He eat that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. It will be that because of the abundance of milk they produce he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isa. 7:14, 15, 22.

Here ‘eating honey and butter’ means that which is celestial-spiritual, and ‘those who are left’ stands for remnants, which are referred to in Malachi as well,

Bring all the tithes* to the storehouse that there may be food in My house. Mal. 3:10.

‘Tithes’* stands for remnants. Further concerning the meaning of ‘food’, see 56-58, 276.
* or tenths

AC (Elliott) n. 681 681. What celestial and spiritual food is can be seen best of all in the next life. The life of angels and spirits is not maintained by any food like that found in the world but ‘by every word that goes out of the mouth of the Lord’, as the Lord Himself teaches in Matt. 4:4. The situation is this: The Lord alone is the life of all. From Him comes every single thing that angels and spirits think, say, and do. This applies not only to angels and good spirits but also to evil spirits. The reason the latter speak and do things that are evil is that they receive and corrupt in this way all goods and truths that are the Lord’s. For as is the form of the recipient so is the nature of reception and affection. This may be compared to different objects which receive the sun-light. According to their form and according to the arrangement and delimitation of their parts, some convert the rays of light received into unpleasant and hideous colours, while other objects convert them into pleasing and beautiful colours. In such a manner the whole of heaven and the whole of the world of spirits derive their life from everything that goes out of the Lord’s mouth, and from this each individual has his life. Indeed this applies not only to heaven and the world of spirits but also to the whole human race. I realize that people are not going to believe it, but I can positively declare from years of uninterrupted personal experience that this is utterly true. Evil spirits in the world of spirits however refuse to believe that it is so, and consequently they have been shown it convincingly time and again until they have grudgingly confessed it to be true. If angels, spirits, and men were deprived of this food they would instantly breathe their last.

AC (Elliott) n. 682 682. Verse 22 And Noah did according to all that God commanded him; he did so.

‘Noah did according to all that God commanded him’ means that it was so done. The use twice of the verb ‘did’ comprehends both good and truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 683 683. As regards the use twice of the verb ‘did’ comprehending both good and truth, it should be recognized that in the Word, especially the Prophets, one matter may be described in two ways, as in Isaiah,

He has passed on in peace, a way He has not gone with His feet. Who has performed and done this? Isa. 42:3, 4.

Here the first statement has regard to good, the second to truth, that is to say, the first regards things of the will, the second those of the understanding. Thus ‘passing on in peace’ embodies things of the will, ‘a way he did not go with His feet’ those of the understanding. The same applies to ‘performing’ and ‘doing’. In the Word things that belong to the will and to the understanding, that is, to love and faith – or what amounts to the same, celestial things and spiritual things – are joined together in such a way that each individual part images a marriage, and answers to the heavenly marriage. The same applies here with the repetition of the same verb.

AC (Elliott) n. 684 684. THE COMMUNITIES THAT CONSTITUTE HEAVEN

There are three heavens, the first where good spirits are, the second where angelic spirits are, and the third where angels are. One heaven is interior to and purer than the next, which means that they are entirely distinct and separate from one another. The first heaven divides into countless communities, as do the second and the third, and each community consists of many individuals who, because of the harmony and unanimity that exist among them, in effect constitute one person. At the same time, all the communities in effect constitute one human being. Communities differ in nature from one another according to the way their mutual love and faith in the Lord varies. These differences are so countless that it is not possible to count up even the most general kinds of them. Even the smallest of differences fits into the perfectly ordered arrangement of the whole, and so contributes in perfect unanimity to a general unity, as does the general unity to the unanimity among individuals. Each individual therefore contributes to the happiness of all, and all to that of each individual. Consequently every angel and every community is an image of the whole of heaven and is so to speak heaven in miniature.

AC (Elliott) n. 685 685. Marvellous ties exist between people in the next life. They are comparable to family relationships on earth, that is to say, they accept one another as parents, children, brothers, blood relatives, and relatives by marriage, their love for one another according with such differences. These differences are limitless, and the perceptions communicable are so excellent as to defy description. No thought at all is given to what they once were on earth – parents, children, blood relatives, or relatives by marriage. Nor is any thought given at all to what a person’s social position has been, no matter who – to his positions of honour, or his wealth, and so on – only to the varying embodiments of mutual love and faith; and the ability to receive these they acquired from the Lord while they were in the world.

AC (Elliott) n. 686 686. It is the Lord’s mercy – that is, His love towards the whole of heaven and towards the whole human race – thus it is the Lord alone, that organizes every single thing into communities. It is the same mercy which gives birth to conjugial love, and from this to the love of parents towards children, which loves are the basic and prime loves. From these stem all other kinds of love existing in unending variety which are ordered quite distinctly and separately into communities.

AC (Elliott) n. 687 687. This being the nature of heaven, no angel or spirit can possibly have any life unless he lives in some community, and in so doing in a harmonious relationship of many people. A community is nothing else than the harmonious relationship of many, for one person’s life in no sense exists in isolation from the life of others. Indeed no angel, spirit, or community can possibly have any life, that is, be moved by good to will anything, or be moved by truth to think anything, if he is not joined to heaven and to the world of spirits through the many in his own community. The same applies to the human race. No one whatever, no matter who, can possibly live, that is, be moved by good to will anything, or be moved by truth to think anything, unless he has in like manner been joined to heaven through the angels residing with him, and to the world of spirits, and even to hell through the spirits residing with him.

[2] For everyone during his lifetime is dwelling in some community of spirits or angels, although he is not conscious of doing so. And if he is not joined to heaven or the world of spirits by means of the community in which he lives, he cannot go on living one moment longer. It is like the parts of the human body. Any part of it which is not joined to the rest by means of fibres and vessels, and so by means of various functions, is not part of the body. It is instantly removed and expelled as that which has no life.

[3] The very communities in which and among which people have lived during their lifetime are shown to them once they have entered the next life. When they enter such a community after the life of the body, they enter into the very life that had been theirs while in the body, and from that life they start a new one. And so according to the life they have led in the body they either go down to hell or are raised up to heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 688 688. Since such a conjunction exists of all with each individual, and of each individual with all, a similar conjunction exists involving the most individual areas of affection and the most individual areas of thought.

AC (Elliott) n. 689 689. This being so, every single thing – celestial, spiritual, or natural – is balanced in such a way that nobody is able to think, feel, or act in isolation from the many, though each one supposes that he does so independently and in absolute freedom. Nothing in like manner ever exists that is not counter-balanced by its opposite, and things that are opposite by those that are intermediate. As a result the individual by himself, and the many collectively, live in a most perfect equilibrium. Consequently no evil can befall anyone without being instantly counter-balanced. And when there is a preponderance of evil, evil – that is, the evil-doer – is in that case corrected by the law of equilibrium as if of himself; but this never takes place except to the end that good may result. Such is the form, and therefore the equilibrium in which heavenly order consists, an order formed, arranged, and preserved for ever by the Lord alone.

AC (Elliott) n. 690 690. In addition it should be realized that one community is never utterly and completely like another, nor one member within a community like any other member. Instead unanimous and harmonious variety of all exists, and these variations have been so ordered by the Lord that they strive towards one single end, which is attained through love and faith in Him. From this arises their unity. For the same reason one heaven and form of heavenly joy is never utterly and completely like another. Indeed variations in love and faith are what determine the nature of heaven and its joy.

AC (Elliott) n. 691 691. This general information concerning communities based on wide and daily experience will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be developed in detail later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 692 692. 7

HELL

Just as man’s idea of heaven is very general, so hazy as to be almost none at all, so too is his idea of hell. He is like hut-dwellers in a forest who can have a mental picture of the world beyond, but do not know of its empires or kingdoms, still less its forms of government, and even less the communities or life of those communities. Until they know these things their idea of the world is bound to be very general, such as to be scarcely any at all. The same applies to man’s ideas of heaven and of hell. Yet there are countless phenomena in both places, infinitely more than those existing on any planet. How countless they are becomes clear from the mere consideration that just as nobody ever has in mind exactly the same heaven as anybody else, so nobody ever has in mind exactly the same hell. And yet all souls who have ever lived in the world since creation began go to those places and are gathered together.

AC (Elliott) n. 693 693. Just as love to the Lord and towards the neighbour, and the resulting joy and happiness constitute heaven, so hatred against the Lord and against the neighbour, and the resulting punishment and torment constitute hell. There are countless genera of hatred, and even more
countless species. And the hells are just as countless.

AC (Elliott) n. 694 694. Just as heaven, deriving as it does from the Lord, constitutes through mutual love one human being and one soul so to speak, and consequently has one end in view, which is to preserve and save all men eternally, so conversely does hell, deriving as it does from the proprium, constitute through self-love and love of the world, that is, through hatred, one devil and one frame of mind (animus), and consequently has one end in view, which is to destroy and condemn all men eternally. That this is the nature of their endeavours I have perceived thousands and thousands of times. Unless therefore the Lord were preserving everybody in every fraction of a moment, man would perish.

AC (Elliott) n. 695 695. The form and the order however which the Lord imposes on the hells are such that all there are kept chained and fettered by their own desires and delusions in which their very life consists. That life, being the life of death, is converted into dreadful tortures, so great as to defy description. For the greatest delight of their lives consists in their being able to punish, torture, and torment one another, and to do so by methods quite unknown in the world. By those methods they know how to introduce painful sensations just as if they were in the body, and also dreadful and horrible delusions, as well as fears and phobias, and other similar tortures. In this the devilish crew find so much pleasure that if they were able to go on unceasingly inflicting more and more pain and torture, they would not rest content even then but would be fired to do so even more unceasingly still. The Lord however diverts their endeavours and alleviates torments.

AC (Elliott) n. 696 696. Every single thing in the next life is balanced in such a way that evil punishes itself. So evil carries its own punishment with it, as likewise does falsity which comes back on him in whom falsity dwells. Consequently the punishment and torment which anybody suffers he brings upon himself, and at such times exposes himself to the devilish crew who inflict them. The Lord never sends anyone to hell, but wishes to lead all away from hell; less still does He bring anyone into torment. But since an evil spirit rushes into it himself the Lord turns all the punishment and torment to good and to some use. No punishment can possibly take place unless the Lord has some use as the end in view, for the Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of ends and uses. The uses which people in hell can perform however are the poorest of all. While they are engaged in these uses their torment is not so great; but once the use has been completed they are returned to hell.

AC (Elliott) n. 697 697. At least two evil spirits and two angels are present with every man. Through the evil spirits a person is in communication with hell, and through the angels with heaven. Without communication in both directions no one can survive for the smallest fraction of time. Everybody is accordingly in contact with some community of those in hell, though he is not directly conscious of it. Their torments however cannot be transmitted to him because he is still in the process of being prepared for eternal life. That community to which he has been allied is sometimes shown to him in the next life, for he goes back to it and so to the life which he led in the world. And from this point he either makes his way towards hell or is raised up into heaven. So anyone who does not lead a life consisting of good that stems from charity and who does not allow himself to be led by the Lord is one of those who belong in hell, and after death he also becomes a devil.

AC (Elliott) n. 698 698. In addition to the hells there are also vastations, about which much is stated in the Word. For a person brings with him into the next life, as the result of sins of his own doing, countless evils and falsities which he accumulates and couples to himself. Even people who have led upright lives do so. Before these can be raised up into heaven their evils and falsities must be dispersed, and this dispersing is called vastation. There are many kinds of vastation, and the time they last may be quite long or quite short. Some people are taken off to heaven within a fairly short period of time, some immediately after death.

AC (Elliott) n. 699 699. To witness the torment of those who are in hell, and also the vastation of those who are on the lower earth, I have several times been sent down there. (Being sent down into hell does not involve being taken from one place to another; it involves being admitted into some community of hell and yet remaining just where you are.) Let this one experience be described here: I once perceived clearly that a sort of column was surrounding me. This column grew noticeably thicker. Then it was instilled into me that this was ‘the wall of bronze’ mentioned in the Word,* and that it consisted of angelic spirits, so that I could be sent down to the unfortunate and yet remain unharmed. While I was there I heard miserable wailings, in particular these, ‘O God, O God, have mercy on us, have mercy on us and this went on for a long time. I was also allowed to talk to those wretches, and to do so quite a lot. Most of all they moaned about evil spirits longing and burning to do nothing else but torment them. In their despair they said they were convinced that the torment would last for ever. But I was allowed to comfort them.
* Jer. 15:20

AC (Elliott) n. 700 700. The hells, as stated, being so numerous, let them be spoken about in turn under the following headings:

1 The hells of people who have gone through life hating, desiring revenge, and being cruel.
2 The hells of people who have gone through life committing adultery and acts of unrestrained lust; also the hells of deceivers and witches.
3 The hells of the avaricious, and in the same place, the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert; and also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures.
4 Then other hells different from these mentioned already.
5 Finally, people who are undergoing vastation.
For these topics see the preliminary or the final sections to the chapters that follow.

GENESIS 7

1 And Jehovah said to Noah, Enter, you and all your house, into the ark, for I have seen you to be a righteous man before Me in this generation.

2 Of every clean beast you shall take for yourself seven and seven of each, male and its mate,* and of beasts that are not clean, pairs of each, male and its mate.*

3 Also of the birds of the air** seven and seven of each, male and female, to keep their seed alive over the face*** of the whole earth.

4 For in seven days’ time I am making it rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out everything**** I have made from over the face*** of the ground.

5 And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him.

6 And Noah was a son of six hundred years, and a flood of waters came to be over the earth.

7 And Noah went into the ark, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, from before the waters of the flood.

8 Of the clean beast, and of the beast that is not clean, and of the bird, and of everything that creeps over the ground.

9 Two and two they went to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

10 And there were seven days, and the waters of the flood were over the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of the years of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were split open, and the floodgates of heaven were opened.

12 And there was rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah went in, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.

14 They, and every wild animal according to its kind, and every beast according to its kind, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every flying thing, and every winged thing.

15 And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two from all flesh in which there was the spirit of life.*****

16 And those who were going in, male and female of all flesh, went in, as God had commanded him; and Jehovah closed the way behind him.

17 And the flood was forty days over the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark and lifted it above the earth.

18 And the waters grew stronger and increased greatly over the earth; and the ark went over the face*** of the waters.

19 And the waters grew stronger and stronger over the earth, and all the high mountains beneath the whole sky were covered.

20 For fifteen cubits upwards the waters prevailed and covered the mountains.

21 And all flesh creeping over the earth breathed its last – birds, beasts, wild animals, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth; and every man.

22 Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life***** in its nostrils, everything that was on the dry land, died.

23 And He wiped out every being**** which was on the face*** of the ground, from man to beasts, to creeping things, and to birds of the air;** and they were wiped out from the earth; and Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark.

24 And the waters became more and more over the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
* lit. man and his wife
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
*** lit. over the faces
**** lit. every substance
***** lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 701 701. CONTENTS

Here the subject in general is the preparation of the Church. Just as the subject previously was the things of the understanding, so here verses 1-5 deal with those of its will.

AC (Elliott) n. 702 702. After that the subject is its temptations. Verses 6-10 describe temptations that involve things of the understanding, verses 11, 12, those that involve things of the will.

AC (Elliott) n. 703 703. Following that verses 13-15 deal with the protection of that Church, and its preservation. Verses 16-18 describe the nature of its state, namely a state of wavering.

AC (Elliott) n. 704 704. Lastly verses 19-24 deal with the character of the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church. They were so seized by the persuasions of falsity and by the desires of self-love that they perished.

AC (Elliott) n. 705 705. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Here the subject in particular is the Flood, which means not only the temptations that the member of the Church called Noah had to undergo before he could be regenerated, but also the desolation of those who were incapable of being regenerated. In the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such.

TEMPTATIONS

In Isaiah,

For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great compassion I will regather you. In a deluge of wrath I hid My face* from you for a moment, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, for this is the waters of Noah to Me, to whom I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Thus have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and rebuke you. O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Isa. 54:7, 9, 11.

This refers to the Church that is to be regenerated, and to temptations which are called ‘the waters of Noah’.

[2] Besides this the Lord Himself calls temptations ‘a deluge’, in Luke,

Jesus said, Every one who comes to Me, and hears My words and does them, is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep, and laid the foundations upon rock; and when a deluge came, a stream broke against that house but was not strong enough to move it because it had been founded upon the rock. Luke 6:47, 48.

The fact that ‘a deluge’ here is used to mean temptations may be clear to anyone.

DESOLATIONS

In Isaiah,

The Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Asshur and all his glory; and it is rising over all its channels, and will go over all its banks, and it will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck. Isa. 8:7, 8.

Here ‘the king of Asshur’ stands for the delusions, false assumptions, and reasonings based on these, which desolate a person and which desolated the people before the Flood.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jer. 47:2, 3.

This refers to the Philistines who represent people who adopt false assumptions and from them engage in reasonings about spiritual matters, which reasonings overwhelm a person as they did the people before the Flood.

The reason why in the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such, is that there is a similarity between the two, it being evil spirits who flow in with their persuasions and false assumptions which dwell with them and who activate the things of a like nature in man. With someone who is being regenerated they are temptations, but with someone who is not they are desolations.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 706 706. Verse 1 And Jehovah said to Noah, Enter, you and all your house, into the ark, for I have seen you to be a righteous man before Me in this generation.

‘Jehovah said to Noah’ means that it was so accomplished. The name ‘Jehovah’ is used because now the subject is charity. ‘Enter, you and all your house, into the ark’ means the things that constitute the will, which is ‘the house’. Here ‘entering into the ark’ means being made ready. ‘For I have seen you to be a righteous man in this generation’ means possessing good by which he could be regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 707 707. From here down to verse 5 the details are almost identical with those stated in the previous chapter, with only minor changes; and the same applies to what comes after that. Anyone who is not aware of the internal sense of the Word is bound to conclude that it is mere repetition of the same thing. Similar instances occur in other parts of the Word, especially the Prophets, where the same matter is expressed in other and different words. And sometimes the matter is taken up again and described once more. The reason for this, as stated already, is that the two faculties with man of will and understanding are totally different from each other, and that the Word deals with both separately. This is the reason why repetitions exist. That the same applies here will be clear from what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 708 708. ‘Jehovah said to Noah’ means that it was so accomplished. This is clear from the fact that with Jehovah there is nothing other than Being (Esse). That which He ‘says’ denotes that which takes place and is accomplished, as also in verse 13 of the previous chapter, and elsewhere where ‘Jehovah’s saying’ denotes taking place and accomplishment.

AC (Elliott) n. 709 709. The name Jehovah is used because now the subject is charity. From verse 9 to the end of the previous chapter Jehovah is not used but God, the reason being that there the subject is the preparation of Noah, or the member of the Church called Noah, as regards things of his understanding, which are matters of faith. Here however it is the preparation of him as regards the things of his will, which are matters of love. When the subject is the things of the understanding, that is, the truths of faith, the name God is used, but when it is those of the will, that is, goods stemming from love, Jehovah is used. For it is not things of the understanding, that is, of faith, that constitute the Church but those of the will which are matters of love. Jehovah is present within love and charity, but not within faith except faith that inheres in love or charity. This also is why in the Word faith is compared to the night, but love to the daytime, as in Genesis 1 where the great lights are mentioned; the greater light, which is the sun and means love, has dominion over the day, while the lesser light, which is the moon and means faith, has dominion over the night, Gen. 1:14, 16. Similarly in the Prophets, Jer. 31:35; 33:20; Ps. 136:8, 9; also Rev. 8:12.

AC (Elliott) n. 710 710. ‘Enter, you and all your house, into the ark’ means things that constitute the will. This is clear from what has just been stated. In the previous chapter, which dealt with things of the understanding, verse 18 reads differently, namely ‘You shall enter into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you’. That ‘a house’ means the will and what constitutes the will is clear from various places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives together. Jer. 6:11.

Here both ‘houses’ and ‘fields and wives’ refers to things of the will. In the same prophet,

Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jer. 29:5, 28.

Here ‘building and dwelling in houses’ has to do with the will, ‘planting gardens’ with the understanding. The same applies in other places. And frequently ‘the house of Jehovah’ stands for the Church where love is the chief thing. ‘The house of Judah’ stands for the celestial Church, ‘the house of Israel’ for the spiritual Church, because ‘a house’ means the Church. Consequently the mind of the member of the Church, which has within it things of the will and those of the understanding, that is, of charity and of faith, is meant by ‘a house’.

AC (Elliott) n. 711 711. That ‘entering into the ark’ means being made ready has been stated already at verse 18 of the previous chapter. There however it meant being made ready for salvation as regards things of the understanding, which are the truths of faith, whereas here it means being made ready as regards those of the will, which are goods springing from charity. Unless a person has been made ready, that is, has been supplied with truths and goods, he cannot possibly be regenerated, still less undergo temptations, for the evil spirits who are at that time with him activate the falsities and evils that are his. And unless truths and goods are present towards which they are turned by the Lord and by which they are scattered, he goes under. The truths and goods are the remnants which the Lord preserves for such purposes.

AC (Elliott) n. 712 712. ‘For I have seen you to be a righteous man in this generation’ means possessing good by which he could be regenerated. This has been stated and shown at verse 9 of the previous chapter. There ‘righteous’ means the good which belongs to charity, and ‘upright’ the truth which belongs to it. There they were ‘generations’ because things of the understanding were the subject, but here it is ‘a generation’ because those of the will are the subject. For the will embraces things of the understanding, but the understanding does not embrace those of the will.

AC (Elliott) n. 713 713. Verse 2 Of every clean beast you shall take for yourself seven and seven of each, male and its mate,* and of beasts that are not clean, pairs of each, male and its mate.*

‘Every clean beast’ means affections for good. ‘Sevens of each’ means that they are holy. ‘Male and mate’* means that truths were joined to goods. ‘The beast that is not clean’ means evil affections. ‘Two of each’ means that in relation to goods they are unholy. ‘Male and mate’* means falsities joined to evils.
* lit. man and wife

AC (Elliott) n. 714 714. That ‘every clean beast’ means affections for good is clear from what has been stated and shown already about beasts in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246. The reason affections are meant by this is that a human being regarded in himself and his proprium is no different from a beast. His [five] senses are very similar, appetites very similar, natural desires very similar, as well as all his affections being very similar. His good and even his best loves are very similar, such as loving companions of his own species, loving his offspring, and loving his married partner. To this extent there is no difference at all. He is a human being and superior to beasts however in that he has an inner life which neither does nor can exist with beasts. That life is the life of faith and love deriving from the Lord, and unless that life were present in the smallest characteristic which a human being shares in common with beasts he would not be in any way different. Take just one example – love towards companions. If he were to love them merely for his own sake without anything more heavenly or more divine within such love, he could not then be called a human being, for the same is true of beasts. Similarly with every other example that could be taken. Consequently if the life of love from the Lord were not present in his will, and the life of faith from the Lord in his understanding, he would in no way be human. Through the life he has from the Lord he lives on after death, for the Lord takes him to Himself; and in this way he can be with angels in His heaven and live for ever. And even when someone lives like a wild animal, loving nothing whatever but himself and things regarding himself, still the Lord’s mercy, being Divine and Infinite, is so great that He does not abandon him but by means of angels continually breathes His life into him. And even though someone does not receive that life otherwise than as a wild animal the Lord still makes it possible for him to think, reflect, and understand whether something in private or public life, or something worldly or bodily is good or bad, and so whether it is true or false.

AC (Elliott) n. 715 715. Since the most ancient people knew and when in self-abasement acknowledged that they were nothing but beasts and wild animals, and that the Lord alone enabled them to be human beings, they not only used to liken whatever resided with themselves to beasts and birds but also called them such. Things of the will they compared to beasts and called them beasts, and those of the understanding they compared to birds and called them birds. They differentiated however between good affections and evil affections. Good affections they compared to lambs, sheep, kids, he-goats, young she-goats, rams, young bulls, and oxen, because they were good and gentle creatures, and also because they had a use in life in that they could be eaten and men could clothe themselves with their skins and wool. These are chiefly the clean beasts. But the evil and savage ones, which also have no use in life, are unclean beasts.

AC (Elliott) n. 716 716. ‘Sevens of each’ means that they are holy. This is clear from what has been stated already in 84-87 about the seventh day or sabbath. That is to say, the Lord is the Seventh Day and from Him derives every celestial Church or man, and indeed, the celestial itself which, because it is the Lord’s alone, is most holy. Consequently seven in the Word means holy; indeed in the internal sense, as here, absolutely nothing is obtained from the number itself. For people who possess the internal sense, as angels and angelic spirits do, have no concept at all of what a number is, and so do not know what seven is. Therefore the idea that they were to take seven pairs of all the clean beasts, or that the ratio of the good to the evil was to be seven to two, is not at all the meaning here. Rather it is this: Things of the will with which this member of the Church was supplied were the goods which are holy, through which, as stated already, he was capable of being regenerated.

[2] That ‘seven’ means that which is holy, or things that are holy, becomes clear from the rituals in the representative Church, where the number seven occurs time and again, for example, being sprinkled seven times with blood and oil, as in Leviticus,

Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and everything that was in it and made them holy. And he sprinkled some of it over the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels to make them holy. Lev. 8:10, 11.

Here ‘seven times’ would be utterly devoid of meaning if that which is holy was not being represented in this way. ‘Oil’ there means the holiness of love. And elsewhere in Leviticus, when Aaron entered the Holy Place,

He shall take some of the blood of the young bull, and shall sprinkle it with his finger over the face* of the mercy-seat towards the east, and he shall sprinkle the face* of the mercy-seat seven times with some of the blood with his finger.

Similarly with the altar,

He shall sprinkle over it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and shall cleanse it, and make it holy. Lev. 16:14, 19.

Here every single detail means the Lord Himself, and therefore the holiness of love – that is to say, ‘the blood’ and also ‘the mercy-seat’, ‘the altar’ too, ‘the east in which direction the blood was to be sprinkled’, and so ‘seven’ as well, all mean the Lord.

[3] In sacrifices it is similar, about which the following is said in Leviticus,

If a soul has sinned inadvertently, and if the anointed priest has sinned, thus making the people guilty, he shall slaughter the young bull in Jehovah’s presence. And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times in Jehovah’s presence towards the veil of the Holy Place. Lev. 4:2-4, 6.

Here similarly ‘seven’ means that which is holy, for the subject is atonement, and therefore the Lord, since atonement is the Lord’s alone. Similar instructions were also given concerning the cleansing of leprosy, about which the following is said in Leviticus,

[Taking some] of the bird’s blood, the cedar-wood, the double-dyed scarlet, and the hyssop, the priest shall sprinkle over the one who is to be cleansed from leprosy seven times, and shall cleanse him. In a similar way some of the oil which is in his left palm, seven times in Jehovah’s presence. In a similar way in a house where there is leprosy, [he shall take some] of the cedar-wood, and the hyssop, and the double-dyed scarlet, and shall sprinkle some of the bird’s blood seven times. Lev. 14:6, 7, 27, 51.

Anyone may see that here cedar-wood, double-dyed scarlet, hyssop, oil, and blood of a bird, and so the number seven, would be utterly meaningless if things that are holy were not being represented by them. If you take away from them holy things, what is left is something dead, or something unholy and idolatrous. When however they do mean holy things the worship they contain in that case is a Divine worship which is internal and simply represented by things that are external. The Jews however were incapable of knowing what these meant; and neither does anyone today know what cedar-wood, hyssop, double-dyed scarlet, and the bird all mean. Yet if only they had been willing to think that these did embody holy things which they did not actually know, and so had worshipped the Lord – who was the Messiah to come who would heal them from their leprosy, that is, from profaning what is holy – they could have been saved. For people who do think and believe in this manner straightaway receive instruction in the next life, if they desire it, as to what every single detail represented.

[4] Similarly where ‘the red heifer’ is the subject it is said that the priest was to take some of its blood on his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood towards the face* of the tent of meeting seven times, Num. 19:4. Because ‘the seventh day’ or sabbath meant the Lord, and from Him meant the celestial man and the celestial itself, the seventh day in the Jewish Church was the holiest of all its religious observances. For this reason there was a sabbath year** every seventh year, Lev. 25:4. Also a jubilee was to be proclaimed after seven sabbaths of years, that is, after seven times seven years, Lev. 25:8, 9. In the highest sense the number seven means the Lord, and from this the holiness of love. This becomes clear also from the golden lampstand with its seven lamps, mentioned in Exod. 25:31-33, 37; 37:17-19, 23; Num. 8:2, 3; Zech. 4:2. And in John it is spoken of as follows,

Seven golden lampstands; in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. Rev. 1:12, 13.

Here it is absolutely clear that ‘a lampstand with seven lamps’ means the Lord, and that ‘the lamps’ are the holy things of love, which comprise celestial things, which also is why there were seven of them.

[5] In the same author,

From the throne there were coming forth seven fiery torches burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Rev. 4:5.

Here ‘the seven torches which came forth from the Lord’s throne’ are seven lamps. The same applies to the number seven when it occurs in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, on the day when Jehovah will bind up the hurt of His people. Isa. 30:26.

Here ‘sevenfold light as the light of seven days’ does not at all mean sevenfold but the holiness of love meant by the sun. See also what has been stated and shown already at Chapter 4:15 concerning the number seven. From these quotations it is also quite clear that all numbers used in the Word never have a numerical value [in the internal sense], as has also been shown already at 6:3.
* lit. the faces
** lit. sabbath of a sabbath

AC (Elliott) n. 717 717. From these considerations it is also clear that the subject is things belonging to man’s will, or the good and holy things in him which are attributes of the will. In this verse it is said that he was to take sevens of each clean beast, and in the next verse of each bird similarly. But in verses 19, 20, of the previous chapter it is not said that he was to take sevens but two of each, that is, pairs of them, because there the subject was things belonging to the understanding, which in themselves are not holy but are made so by the love which constitutes the will.

AC (Elliott) n. 718 718. ‘Male and mate’* means that truths were joined to goods. This is clear from the meaning of ‘man’ (vir) as truth which belongs to the understanding, and from the meaning of ‘wife’ as good which belongs to the will, both dealt with already. This consequently means that with man neither the smallest area of thought nor the smallest area of affection or activity has any existence at all unless it contains some marriage of understanding and will. In the absence of such a marriage nothing ever comes forth or is produced. The very organs of man’s body, in their complex and in their simple parts, and indeed in the simplest parts of all, contain that which is passive and that which is active. And if these were not coupled together, like man and wife in marriage, they could not even be there, let alone produce anything. The same applies to the whole realm of nature. The source and origin of these enduring marriages lies in the heavenly marriage by means of which also the idea of the Lord’s kingdom is stamped on everything in the whole realm of nature, both on animate beings and on inanimate.
* lit. man and wife

AC (Elliott) n. 719 719. ‘The beast that is not clean’ means evil affections. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already about clean beasts. The clean ones are so called because they are gentle, good, and useful. Those that are not clean are the opposite – savage, evil, and useless – of which there are genera and species. These in the Word are also portrayed as wolves, bears, foxes, pigs, and many others, which mean various evil desires and malicious intentions. In the present verse it is said that unclean beasts, or evil affections, were to be taken into the ark as well, for the following reason: The character of the member of this Church is being described here, specifically by means of the ark, and thus by the things that were in or rather had been brought into the ark, that is, the things that already resided with man prior to his being regenerated. Truths and goods resided with him already, which the Lord had supplied and granted prior to his regeneration, for without truths and goods no one can possibly be regenerated. Here the evils that resided with him are referred to and are meant by ‘unclean beasts’ that are mentioned. While a person is being regenerated evils are present that have to be dispersed, that is, broken down and modified by means of goods. For no evil with man, that of his own doing or that which is hereditary, can ever be dispersed so far as to be banished, but remains implanted for ever. Yet it is broken down and modified by means of goods from the Lord so as to be innocuous and not seen. This is an arcanum that is still unknown. It is the evils of man’s own doing that are broken down and modified, rather than those which are hereditary – something else which is not known.

AC (Elliott) n. 720 720. ‘Pairs of each’ means that in relation to goods they are unholy. This becomes clear from the meaning of that number. A pair or two means not only a marriage (and when the heavenly marriage is meant it is a holy number); it also has the same meaning as six. That is to say, two relates to three in the same way that the six days of labour do to the seventh or holy day of rest. This is why in the Word ‘the third day’ takes on the same meaning as ‘the seventh’, and embodies almost the same, the reason being that the Lord’s resurrection took place on the third day. This also is why the Lord’s Coming into the world and into glory, and also every coming of the Lord, is described by the third day, as well as by the seventh day. The two days which go before therefore are not holy, but in relation to the third are unholy, as in Hosea,

Come and we will return to Jehovah, for He has wounded and will heal us; He has stricken and will bind us up; He will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. Hosea 6:1, 2.

And in Zechariah,

It will be in all the land, said Jehovah, that two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last, and a third will be left in it. And I will lead the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as one refines silver. Zech. 13:8, 9.

And Ps. 12:6 speaks of silver being purest when it has been purified seven times. These quotations show that just as ‘sevens of each’ did not mean sevens of each but things that are holy, so ‘pairs of each’ does not mean two of each but those which in relation to the holy are unholy. Accordingly the meaning is not at all that unclean beasts, or man’s evil affections, in relation to clean beasts, or goods, were fewer by a ratio of two to seven; for with man evils far outnumber goods.

AC (Elliott) n. 721 721. ‘Male and mate’* means falsities joined to evils. This is clear from what has been stated just above, for ‘male and mate’ now has reference to unclean beasts whereas just above they had reference to clean. In that place therefore they meant truths joined to goods, whereas here they mean falsities joined to evils. For it is the subject that determines the nature of that which is attributed to it.
* lit. man and wife

AC (Elliott) n. 722 722. Verse 3 Also of the birds of the air* seven and seven of each, male and female, to keep their seed alive over the face** of the whole earth.

‘Birds of the air* means things of the understanding. ‘Sevens of each’ means that they are holy. ‘Male and female’ means truths and goods. ‘To keep their seed alive over the face** of the whole earth’ means truths of faith.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
** lit. over the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 723 723. That ‘birds of the air’* means things of the understanding has been shown already, so there is no need to pause over it here.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 724 724. Here too ‘sevens of each’ means that they are holy. But in this case they are holy truths, which are holy because they stem from goods. No truth is in any sense holy unless it does stem from good. A person can utter many truths from the Word, reciting them by heart, but unless they are the product of love or charity holiness is no way attributable to them. If however love and charity are there, in that case he really acknowledges and believes them, doing so from the heart. It is similar with faith, which so many people speak of as that which alone saves; unless faith stems from love or charity it is in no sense faith. It is love and charity that render faith holy. The Lord is present within love and charity, but not within faith that has been separated. Separated faith is a peculiarity of man himself, who has nothing but uncleanness within him. For when faith has been separated from love, he speaks from the intention that is in his heart, that intention being his own renown or his own profit. This anyone may recognize from personal experience, as when he tells somebody that he loves him, likes him more than anybody else, rates him the best of all, and so on, and yet in his heart he thinks something completely different. He is doing this only with his lips while denying it in his heart; and sometimes he is even making fun of that person. The same is true of faith, as I have been made fully aware through many experiences. Some during their lifetime have extolled the Lord and faith in words so fine, and at the same time with all the appearance of being devout, that their hearers have been dumbfounded. But they have not done it from the heart, and in the next life they are among those who utterly hate the Lord and persecute people who have faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 725 725. ‘Male and female’ means truths and goods. This becomes clear from what has been stated and shown already about ‘male’ (vir) and ‘male’ (masculus) meaning truth, and ‘mate’ (uxor) and ‘female’ (femina) meaning good. ‘Male and female’ however has reference to things of the understanding, while ‘male and mate’* has reference to those of the will, the reason being that ‘male and mate’ represents marriage more than ‘male and female’ does. In fact, by itself truth cannot possibly enter into marriage with good; but good does so with truth, for no truth ever exists which is not the product of good and is in this way coupled to good. Take away good from truth and nothing remains whatever but mere words.
* lit. man and wife

AC (Elliott) n. 726 726. ‘Keeping seed alive over the face* of all the earth’ means truths of faith. This is clear from the fact that by means of this Church the seed was kept alive, ‘seed’ being used to mean faith. The rest of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church destroyed celestial and spiritual seed by means of filthy desires and dreadful persuasions residing with them. But to guard against the extinction of celestial seed those called Noah were regenerated; and they were regenerated by means of spiritual seed. This is the meaning of these words. The expression ‘kept alive’ is used of those who receive the Lord’s life, because life consists solely in those things that are the Lord’s, as may become clear to anyone from the fact that no life in any sense resides in those things which are not part of eternal life, that is, which do not look to eternal life. Life that is not eternal is not life, but perishes in a very short space of time. Nor can Being (Esse) be attributed to things that come to an end, but to those that never come to an end. Life and Being (Esse) therefore reside solely in things that are the Lord’s, or Jehovah’s, for all Being (Esse) and living to eternity is His. By eternal life is meant eternal happiness. For these matters see what has been stated and shown in 290.
* lit. over his face

AC (Elliott) n. 727 727. Verse 4 For in seven days’ time I am making it rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out everything* I have made from over the face** of the ground.
‘Seven days’ time’ means the onset of temptation. ‘Raining’ means temptation. ‘Forty days and nights’ means the duration of temptation. ‘Wiping out everything* I have made from over the face** of the ground’ means man’s proprium which is so to speak wiped out when he is being regenerated. The same statements also mean the wiping out of those members of the Most Ancient Church who destroyed themselves.
* lit. every substance
** lit. over the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 728 728. That ‘seven days’ time’ here means the onset of temptation is clear from the internal sense of all the details in this verse, where the subject is the temptation of the man called Noah. In general the subject concerns not only the temptation of that man but also the utter vastation of those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church and who had become such as described. Consequently ‘seven days’ time’ means not only the onset of temptation but also the finish of vastation. The reason ‘seven days’ time’ means those things is that seven Is a holy number, as stated and shown at verse 2 of this chapter, at 4:15, 24, and in 84-87. It means the Lord’s Coming into the world, and also His coming into glory. In particular it means every coming He makes. Every one of His comings involves a beginning for those who are being regenerated and the end of those who are being vastated. And so for the member of this Church His coming marked the onset of temptation, for when someone is being tempted he starts to become a new man and be regenerated. At the same time it was the end of those from the Most Ancient Church who had become of such a character that inevitably they perished. It was similar when the Lord came into the world; at that time the Church had entered the final stages of its vastation, and a new one came into being.

[2] That ‘seven days’ time’ means these things is clear in Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed concerning your people and your holy city to bring transgression to a close and to seal up sins and to atone for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. And you will know and perceive that from the going forth of the Word to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be SEVEN WEEKS. Dan. 9:24, 25.

Here ‘seventy weeks’ and ‘seven weeks’ are similar in meaning to seven days, namely the Coming of the Lord. But because it is plain prophecy here, periods of time are presented in an even more holy and decided fashion by numbers involving seven. From this quotation it is clear that, when applied in this way to periods of time, ‘seven’ means not only the Coming of the Lord, but also – in the words stating that He was to anoint the Most Holy Place and that He was to restore and build Jerusalem – the beginning of a new Church at that time, and simultaneously – in the words stating that [seventy] weeks were decreed concerning the holy city to bring transgression to a close and to seal up sin – final vastation.

[3] Similar usages occur elsewhere in the Word, as in Ezekiel where he describes a personal experience,

I came to those in captivity at Tel-abib, who were sitting by the river Chebar, and I sat there seven days, astonished among them And at the end of seven days the Word of Jehovah came to me. Ezek. 3:15, 16.

Here also ‘seven days’ stands for the onset of visitation, for when he had sat seven days among those in captivity, the Word of Jehovah came to him. In the same prophet,

They will bury Gog, that they may cleanse the land in seven months. At the end of seven months they will make their search. Ezek. 39:12, 14.

This similarly stands for the final phase of vastation and the first of visitation. In Daniel,

The heart of Nebuchadnezzar will be changed from a man and the heart of a beast given to him, and seven times will pass over him. Dan. 4:16, 25, 31.

This likewise stands for the finish of vastation and the beginning of a new man.

[4] The seventy years of captivity in Babylon represented the same. Whether the number is seventy or seven what is embodied is the same. The same applies whether it is seven days, or seven years, or seven decades which make seventy years. Vastation was represented by the years of captivity, the beginning of a new Church by the liberation and by the rebuilding of the Temple. Jacob’s serving in the house of Laban also represented things of a similar nature – where the following is stated,

I will serve you for seven years for Rachel. And he served for seven years. Laban said, Complete the week of this one, and we will give you also the other one for the service you render with me for another seven years. And Jacob did so, and completed the week of this one. Gen. 29:18, 20, 27, 28.

Here ‘the service of seven years’ embodies something similar. And after the period of seven years marriage and freedom followed. The period of these seven years was called a week, as also in Daniel.

[5] Something similar was also represented by the command to go around the city of Jericho seven times, and the wall would collapse. It is also said that they rose at dawn on the seventh day and went around the city, as they were accustomed to do, seven times. And after the seventh time round, the seven priests blew on their seven trumpets and the wall collapsed, Josh. 6:10-20. Unless these events had also had this meaning the command would never have been given to go round seven times, or that there were to be seven priests and seven trumpets. From these and many other places, for example in Job 2:17; Rev. 15:1, 6, 7; 21:9, it becomes clear that ‘seven days’ time’ means the beginning of a new Church and the end of the old. Since the subject here is not only the member of the Church called Noah and his temptation, but also the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church who destroyed themselves, ‘seven days’ time’ can mean nothing other than the onset of the temptation of Noah and the finish of the Most Ancient Church, which was the final destruction and extinction of it.

AC (Elliott) n. 729 729. ‘Raining’ means temptation. This is clear from what has been stated and shown in the preliminary section of this chapter,* to the effect that the flood and deluge of waters, which is called ‘raining’ here, mean not only temptation but also vastation. This will also be evident from what is to be stated further on about the Flood.
* i.e. in 705

AC (Elliott) n. 730 730. ‘Forty days and nights’ means the duration of temptation. This is quite clear from the Word of the Lord. The reason ‘forty’ means the duration of temptation is the fact that the Lord allowed Himself to be tempted for forty days, as is clear in Matt. 4:1, 2; Luke 4:2; Mark 1:13. And because every single requirement in the Jewish Church and in all other representative Churches before the Lord’s Coming was merely a type and shadow of Him, so too were forty days and nights. In general they represented and meant all temptation, and in particular however long its duration. And since anyone undergoing temptation experiences vastation of all things that belong to the proprium and of things that are bodily – for things of the proprium and those that are bodily have to die, doing so indeed through conflict and temptation, before he is reborn a new man, that is, before he becomes spiritual and celestial – ‘forty days and nights’ therefore also means the duration of vastation. The same applies here where the subject is both the temptation of the member of the new Church called Noah and also the destruction of those who lived before the Flood.

[2] That ‘forty’ means not only the duration of temptation but also of vastation, whether long or short, is clear in Ezekiel,

You shall lie on your right side and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, a day for each year I assign you. Ezek. 4:6.

This stands for the duration of the vastation of the Jewish Church and also for a representation of the Lord’s temptation, for it is said that he was ‘to bear the iniquity of the house of Judah’. In the same prophet,

I will make the land of Egypt waste places, an utter desolation. The foot of man will not pass through it, and the foot of beast will not pass through it, and it will be uninhabited for forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands, and her cities in the midst of devastated cities will be a lonely place for forty years. Ezek. 29:10-11.

This too stands for the duration of vastation and desolation. Here the meaning in the internal sense is not forty years but solely the desolation of faith in general, whether within a short or a long period of time. In John,

The court outside the Temple, leave that out and do not measure it, for it has been given over to the nations* who will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. Rev. 11:2.

[3] And in the same author,

The beast was given a mouth uttering great things and blasphemies, and it was given power to act for forty-two months. Rev. 13:5.

This stands for the duration of vastation, for a period of forty-two months is not meant at all, as anyone may see. In these quotations the number is in fact forty-two, but this has the same meaning as forty. It is obtained from ‘seven days’ meaning the finish of vastation and a new beginning, and from ‘six’ meaning labour because of the six days of labour or conflict. Consequently seven multiplied by six, which produces the number ‘forty-two’, means the duration of vastation and the duration of temptation, that is, the labour and conflict of someone who is to be regenerated, which period of time involves holiness. The round number forty however has been adopted instead of the less round number forty-two, as is clear in these quotations from the Book of Revelation.

[4] The people of Israel’s being led about in the wilderness for forty years before being brought into the land of Canaan in a similar way represented and meant the duration of temptation, and also the duration of vastation – the duration of temptation by the fact that they were subsequently brought into the Holy Land, and the duration of vastation by the fact that, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, all who were more than twenty years old when they left Egypt died in the wilderness. And temptations are also meant by the things they grumbled about so often, and vastations by the plagues and destruction they suffered so often. The fact that temptations and vastations are meant will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown in their proper places. They are referred to in Moses as follows,

You shall remember all the way that Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness to afflict you, to tempt you, to know what is in your heart, whether you will keep His commandments or not. Deut. 8:2, 3, 16.

Moses’ forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai similarly mean the duration of temptation – that is, the temptation of the Lord – as is clear in Moses,

He was on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights, eating no bread, drinking no water, pleading for the people not to be destroyed. Deut. 9:9, 11, 18, 25-end; 10:10.

[See also] Num. 14:33-35; 32:8-14

[5] The reason ‘forty days’ means the duration of temptation is, as has been stated, that the Lord allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil for forty days. Consequently in the days when all things were representatives of the Lord, whenever the idea of temptation existed with angels, that idea was represented in the world of spirits by such things as exist in the world – as happens with all angelic ideas when they come down into the world of spirits and manifest themselves there in a representative fashion. The same accordingly applies to the number forty, for the Lord was to be tempted for forty days. With the Lord, and consequently in the angelic heaven, the future and the present are one and the same, for what is future is already present, or what is to take place has taken place. This is the origin of the representation of temptations and also of vastations by forty in the representative Church. But these matters cannot as yet be understood satisfactorily because people do not know about the influx of the angelic heaven into the world of spirits or the nature of it.
* or the gentiles

AC (Elliott) n. 731 731. ‘Wiping out everything* I have made from over the face** of the ground’ means man’s proprium, which is so to speak wiped out when he is being given life. This is clear from what has been stated already about the proprium. The human proprium is altogether evil and false. So long as it remains, a person is dead, but when he undergoes temptations, it is dispersed, that is, broken down and moderated by truths and goods from the Lord. In this way it is made alive and seems to be no longer present. Its apparent absence and causing no further harm is meant by ‘being wiped out’, though in fact it is in no way wiped out but remains. It is very similar to the behaviour of black and white. When these are variously modified by rays of light, they are converted into beautiful colours, such as blue, golden, and purple hues. By means of the latter, according to individual characteristics, as in the case of flowers, what is beautiful and pleasing is presented, although radically and fundamentally it is still the colours black and white. Now because the subject here is at the same time the final vastation of those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church, those who perished are meant as well by ‘wiping out everything’ I have made from over the face** of the ground.* This is also the case with verse 23 below. ‘Everything I have made’ is every thing, or every person who has celestial seed within him, that is, who belonged to the Church. This also is why in this verse, and in verse 23 below, the expression used is ‘the ground’, which means the member of the Church who has good and truth sown in him. And this grew more and more with those called Noah after evils and falsities had been dispersed, as stated already. But among the people before the Flood who perished, that seed was choked by tares.
* lit. every substance
** lit. over the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 732 732. Verse 5 And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him means, as previously, that it was so accomplished.

See the previous chapter, at 6:22, where it is said twice of Noah that he ‘did’, whereas in this verse it is said only once. In that verse the name ‘God’ is used, but in this ‘Jehovah’. The reason is that the previous chapter deals with things of the understanding, the present with those of the will. Things of the understanding view those of the will as things different and separate from themselves, but those of the will view those of the understanding as things united to themselves or as a unity, for the understanding has its being from the will. This is why the verb ‘to do’ is used twice in 6:22 but only once at this point, and also why the name ‘God’ is used there but ‘Jehovah’ here.

AC (Elliott) n. 733 733. Verse 6 And Noah was a son of six hundred years, and a flood of waters came to be over the earth.

‘Noah was a son of six hundred years’ means his initial state of temptation. ‘A flood of waters over the earth’ means the onset of temptation.

AC (Elliott) n. 734 734. In what has gone before, verses 13-end of the previous chapter dealt with truths of the understanding which the member of the Church called Noah was supplied with by the Lord prior to his being regenerated, while verses 1-5 of this chapter deal after that with goods of the will, which were also conferred on him by the Lord. And because both are dealt with it looks like a repetition. Now however verses 6-11 deal with the temptation of that man, the present verse in particular dealing with the first state and so with the onset of temptation. And anyone is able to see that further repetition occurs, for in this verse it is said that ‘Noah was a son of six hundred years when the flood came to be over the earth’ but in verse 11 that it occurred ‘in the six hundredth year of his life, in the second month, and on the seventeenth day’. So too with verse 7 in which it is said that ‘Noah entered into the ark with his sons and their wives’ and the similar statement in verse 13 later on. Also verses 8, 9, in which it is said that the beasts entered into the ark to Noah’ and the similar statements in verses 14-16. From these considerations it is clear that this verse is in like manner a repetition of matters that have appeared already. What more can anyone see who keeps to the sense of the letter alone except the repetition of some historical event? But here as in other places not one tiny word is in any way superfluous or meaningless, for it is the Lord’s Word. There is not any repetition therefore unless it is used to mean something different from before. In fact here, as previously, it is initial temptation, which involves things of his understanding, that is meant, and after that temptation of him as regards things of his will. With anyone who is to be regenerated these temptations are consecutive, for being tempted as regards things of the understanding is altogether different from being tempted as regards those of the will. Temptation as regards things of the understanding is mild, whereas temptation as regards those of the will is severe.

AC (Elliott) n. 735 735. The reason why temptation as regards things of the understanding, that is, as regards the falsities residing with man, is mild is that man is subject to the illusions of the senses; and the illusions of the senses are such that they are bound to enter in, and for this reason they are easily dispersed. This is the case with all who keep to the sense of the letter of the Word, where the statements made are in accordance with man’s mental grasp, and so in accordance with the illusions of his senses. If those people in simplicity have faith in these things because it is the Lord’s Word, then despite being subject to illusions, they easily allow themselves to be taught. Take, for example, someone who believes that the Lord is angry, punishes, and does evil to the wicked; because he has acquired this from the sense of the letter he can easily be taught the truth of the matter. Equally, if in simplicity he believes that of himself he can do good and that he receives a reward in the next life if he is a good man of himself, he also can easily be taught that the good he does comes from the Lord and that the Lord out of His mercy grants the reward for nothing. Consequently when such people enter into temptation as regards things of the understanding, that is, illusions such as these, they are able to be tempted only mildly. It is this initial temptation, scarcely seeming to be temptation at all, that is the subject here. The situation is altogether different however with people who do not believe the Word from simplicity of heart but who confirm themselves in illusions and falsities for the reason that these favour their own evil desires. For that reason they accumulate from ideas of their own and from the facts they know many more compelling arguments which they then confirm by means of the Word, and in so doing impress upon themselves and persuade themselves that falsity is truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 736 736. As for Noah, or the member of this new Church, he was such that he believed with simplicity those things which he had come to possess from the Most Ancient Church. These were items of doctrine that had been gathered together and converted into a kind of doctrinal form by those called Enoch. The disposition of the people meant by Noah however was entirely different from those before the Flood who perished, called the Nephilim. For they immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in their own filthy desires and in this way strove after dreadful persuasions from which they were unwilling to draw back even though they were taught by others and were shown that these were falsities. This dual genius or disposition also exists among people today. The former can be regenerated easily, but the latter with difficulty.

AC (Elliott) n. 737 737. ‘Noah was a son of six hundred years’ means his initial state of temptation. This is clear from the fact from here down to Eber in Chapter 11 nothing else is meant by numbers, years of age, or names than real things, as was the case also with the ages and names of all those mentioned in Chapter 5. Here ‘six hundred years’ means the initial state of temptation. This becomes clear from its prime factors which are ten and six multiplied again by ten. When the same factors are involved it makes no difference whether the number arrived at is large or small. As for ten, this has been shown already at 6:3 to mean remnants, while the meaning of six here as labour and conflict is clear from places throughout the Word. For the situation is this: What has gone before dealt with man’s preparation for temptation, that is to say, he was supplied by the Lord with truths of the understanding and with goods of the will. These truths and goods are remnants, but they are not brought forth so as to be acknowledged until man is being regenerated. In the case of those who are being regenerated by means of temptations the remnants existing with any man are for the angels present with him. From these remnants they draw out those things with which they protect him against the evil spirits who activate falsities with him and in this way attack him. It is because remnants are meant by ‘ten’ and conflict by ‘six’ that six hundred years are spoken of, a number in which ten and six are the prime factors and which means a state of temptation.

[2] As regards conflict being the particular meaning of ‘six’, this is clear from Genesis 1, which describes the six days of man’s regeneration prior to his becoming celestial. During those six days there was constant conflict, but on the seventh day came rest. Consequently there are six days of labour, and the seventh is the sabbath, a word which means rest. This also is why a Hebrew slave was to serve for six years and in the seventh was to go free, Exod. 21:2; Deut. 15:12; Jer. 34:14, and why for six years they were to sow the land and gather in the produce, but in the seventh they were to leave it alone, Exod. 23:10-12. The same applied to a vineyard. It is also the reason why in the seventh year the land was to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to Jehovah, Lev. 25:3, 4. Because ‘six’ means labour and conflict it also means the dispersion of falsity, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which looks towards the north, every man with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. Ezek. 9:2.

And in the same prophet, against Gog,

I will cause you to turn about, and I will split you into six, and cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north. Ezek. 39:2.

Here ‘six’ and ‘splitting into six’ stand for dispersion, ‘the north’ for falsities, and ‘Gog’ for people who seize on doctrinal matters based on things of an external nature with which they destroy internal worship. From Job,

He will deliver you in six troubles, and in a seventh no evil will touch you. Job 5:19.

This stands for the conflict that constitutes temptations.

[3] ‘Six’ occurs in other parts of the Word where it does not mean labour, conflict, or the dispersion of falsity, but the holiness of faith. In these instances it is related to twelve, which means faith and all things of faith in their entirety, and to three which means that which is holy. Consequently there is also a genuine derivative meaning to the number six, as in Ezekiel 40:5, where the man’s measuring rod with which he measured the holy city of Israel was six cubits long; and in other places. The reason for this derivative is that in the conflict of temptation the holiness of faith is present, and also that six days of labour and conflict look forward to the holy seventh day.

AC (Elliott) n. 738 738. He is called ‘a son of six hundred years’ here because, as shown already, ‘son’ means intellectual truth. He is not however referred to as a son in verse 11 below because there the subject is his temptation as regards things of the will.

AC (Elliott) n. 739 739. ‘A flood of waters’ means the onset of temptation. This is clear from the fact that the temptation dealt with here regards things of the understanding, which temptation, as has been stated, comes first and is mild. Consequently it is called ‘a flood of waters’ and not simply a flood, as in verse 17 below. For the primary meaning of ‘waters’ is man’s spiritual things, matters of faith in the understanding, and also their opposites, which are falsities, as may be confirmed from so many places in the Word.

[2] That a flood of waters or a deluge means temptation is clear from what has been shown in the preliminary section of this chapter,* and also in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, I will make a stormy wind** break out in My wrath, and there will be a deluging rain in My anger, and hailstones in rage to consume it, so that I may break down the wall you daub with whitewash. Ezek. 13:11, 13, 14.

Here ‘stormy wind** and ‘deluging rain’ stand for the desolation of falsity, ‘a wall daubed with whitewash’ for a fabrication which looks like the truth. In Isaiah,

Jehovah God is a shelter from the deluge, a shade from the heat, for the spirit of violent men is like a deluge against a wall. Isa. 25:4.

Here ‘deluge’ stands for temptation as regards things of the understanding, which is quite different from temptation as regards things of the will, which is called ‘heat’.

[3] In the same prophet,

Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong, like a deluge of hail, a destroying tempest, like a deluge of mighty overflowing waters. Isa. 28:2.

This describes degrees of temptation. In the same prophet, When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not deluge you. When you go through fire you will not be burned, and the flame will not consume you. Isa. 43:2.

Here ‘waters’ and ‘rivers’ stand for falsities and delusions,’ fire’ and ‘flame’ for evils and evil desires. In David,

Therefore everyone who is holy will pray to You at a time of discovering. In the deluge of many waters they will not reach him. You are a hiding-place for me, You will save me from distress. Ps. 32:6, 7.

Here ‘deluge of waters’ stands for temptation, which is also called a flood in the same author,

Jehovah sits over the flood; and Jehovah sits as King for ever. Ps. 29:10.

These quotations and those given in the preliminary section of this chapter* show that a flood or deluge of waters means nothing other than temptations and vastations, even though according to the custom of the most ancient people the description is of historical events.
* i.e. in 705
** lit. spirit or breath of storms

AC (Elliott) n. 740 740. Verse 7 And Noah went into the ark, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, from before the waters of the flood.

‘Noah went into the ark from before the waters of the flood’ means that in temptation he was protected. ‘Sons’ mean truths, as previously, ‘wife’ goods, and ‘sons’ wives’ truths joined to goods.

AC (Elliott) n. 741 741. That ‘Noah went into the ark from before the waters of the flood’ means that he was protected may become clear to anyone. Temptations are nothing other than conflicts between evil spirits and angels who reside with a person. Evil spirits activate all the dishonourable things the person has done or even thought which have been with him since early childhood, thus both evils and falsities; and in so doing, the spirits condemn him, for nothing gives them greater delight. Indeed the very delight of their lives consists in doing just that. But the Lord protects the person by means of angels and prevents the evil spirits and genii from overstepping the mark and overwhelming him with more than he can cope with.

AC (Elliott) n. 742 742. ‘Sons’ means truths, ‘wife’ goods, ‘sons’ wives’ truths joined to goods. This has been stated already at verse 18 of the previous chapter where the same words occur. By truths and goods, though called ‘sons and wives’ here, are meant the things residing with the type of man called Noah by which he was protected. Such is the most ancient style of the Word, embodying heavenly arcana, a style in which everything connects as history.

AC (Elliott) n. 743 743. Verses 8, 9 Of the clean beast, and of the beast that is not clean, and of the bird, and of everything that creeps over the ground. Two and two they went to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

‘The clean beast’ means, as previously, affections for good. ‘The beast that is not clean’ means evil desires. ‘Bird’ in general means thoughts. ‘Everything that creeps over the ground’ means the sensory part and every associated delight. ‘Two and two’ means complementary things. ‘They went into the ark’ means that they were protected. ‘Male and female’, as previously, means truth and good. ‘As God had commanded Noah’ means that it was so accomplished.

AC (Elliott) n. 744 744. That ‘the clean beast’ means affections for good has been stated and shown already at verse 2 of this chapter, consequently there is no need to pause over it here. It has in similar fashion been shown at that verse that ‘the beast that is not clean’ means evil desires or affections.

AC (Elliott) n. 745 745. In general ‘bird’ means thoughts. This is clear from what has been stated in several places already about birds meaning intellectual concepts or rational concepts. In those places however they are called ‘birds of the air’* whereas here it is simply ‘bird’, which is why thoughts in general are meant. Indeed there are many kinds of birds, clean and unclean, which in verse 14 below are differentiated as birds, flying creatures, and winged creatures. Clean ones are thoughts about truth, the unclean are false thoughts, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.
* lit. birds of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 746 746. ‘Everything that creeps over the ground’ means the sensory part and every associated delight. This too has been stated and shown already. The most ancient people compared and likened man’s sensory powers and his delights that go with these to reptiles and creeping things, and also called them such, for they are the most exterior things of all. They creep so to speak over the surface of man and must not be allowed to climb any higher.

AC (Elliott) n. 747 747. ‘Two and two’ means complementary things. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that they are pairs. It is impossible for them to be pairs unless they are complementary to one another as truths and goods are, or evils and falsities. In fact all things contain the likeness of a marriage or a coupling together, as in the case of truths to goods, or of evils to falsities, because of the marriage of the understanding to the will, or of things of the understanding to those of the will. Indeed everything contains a marriage or coupling together of its own on which its very continuance depends.

AC (Elliott) n. 748 748. ‘They went into the ark’ means that these pairs were protected. This has been stated already at verse 7 above where Noah, his sons, and their wives are the subject.

AC (Elliott) n. 749 749. ‘Male and female’ means truth and good. This is clear from what has been stated already at Chapter 6:19 where ‘male and female’ have reference to birds, but ‘male and mate’* to beasts. The reason is also stated there, namely, that things of the will are married to those of the understanding, but less so those of the understanding regarded in themselves to those of the will. The former exist as male and mate* but the latter as male and female. Now because here the subject first of all is the temptation of that man as regards things of the understanding, as has been stated, the phrase ‘male and female’ is used, and conflict, or temptation as regards things of the understanding, is meant.
* lit. man and wife

AC (Elliott) n. 750 750. ‘As God had commanded’ means that it was so accomplished. This has been shown already at verse 22 of the previous chapter and also at verse 5 of this.

AC (Elliott) n. 751 751. Since the subject here is the temptation of the member of the new Church called Noah, and since few, if any, know what temptations are, because nowadays few people undergo such temptations – and those who do are not aware of anything other than the feeling that it is something within them which is suffering in this way – let a brief explanation be given. There are evil spirits who at that time activate a person’s falsities and evils, as has been stated. Indeed they draw out of his memory whatever he has thought and carried out since early childhood. Evil spirits can do this so cleverly and wickedly as to defy description. But the angels who are with him draw out his goods and truths, and in this way defend him. This conflict is what the person feels and perceives in himself and is what causes the sting and torment of conscience.

[2] There are two kinds of temptation, the first involving things of the understanding, the second those of the will. When a person’s temptation involves those of the understanding, evil spirits activate only the evil deeds he has carried out, which are meant here by ‘unclean beasts’. And with these they accuse and condemn. They even activate his good deeds as well, which are also meant here by the ‘clean beasts’; but these they corrupt in a thousand ways. At the same time they also activate his thoughts, which are also meant here by ‘bird’, and in addition they activate the things meant here by ‘things creeping over the ground’. This kind of temptation however is mild and is perceived only through the recollection of such experiences, and a kind of mental anguish resulting from this.

[3] When however someone’s temptation involves things of the will, it is not so much his deeds and thoughts that are activated. Instead there are evil genii, as evil spirits of this type may be called, who inflame him with the evil desires and the foul loves in which he is steeped, and in this way direct their attack through the person’s very desires. They do this so wickedly and secretly that one cannot possibly believe it is they who are doing it. In fact they worm their way in no time at all into the life of his desires, and almost instantaneously twist and convert the affection for good and truth into the affection for evil and falsity. They act in such a way that the individual inevitably thinks that these things come from himself and flow forth of his own free will. This kind of temptation is very severe, and is felt as inward pain and burning torment. This subject is dealt with later on. I have been allowed from much experience to know and realize that this is true, and to know also when evil spirits or genii were flowing in and overwhelming, and from where, who they were and how they did it. In the Lord’s Divine mercy these experiences will be described in detail later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 752 752. Verse to And there were seven days, and the waters of the flood were over the earth. These words, as previously, mean the onset of temptation.

AC (Elliott) n. 753 753. That ‘seven days’ means the onset of temptation has been shown above at verse 4. It also relates to what has gone before, namely that this temptation, which involved the things of his understanding, was the onset of temptation, or the initial temptation, and is accordingly a statement concluding the subject dealt with. And because this first temptation involved things of the understanding, verse 7 above speaks of ‘waters of the flood’, and verse 6 of ‘the flood of waters’, which properly means that kind of temptation, as shown in those places.

AC (Elliott) n. 754 754. Verse 11 In the six hundredth year of the years of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were split open, and the floodgates of heaven were opened.

‘The six hundredth year, the second month, and the seventeenth day’ means the second state of temptation. ‘All the fountains of the great deep were split open’ means the full extent of temptation involving things of the will. ‘The floodgates of heaven were opened’ means the full extent of temptation involving those of the understanding.

AC (Elliott) n. 755 755. That ‘the six hundredth year, the second month, and the seventeenth day’ means the second state of temptation follows from what has been stated so far, for verse 6 down to this present verse 11 has dealt with the first state of temptation, which was temptation involving things of his understanding. Now however the second state is dealt with, namely temptation involving things of the will. This is the reason why his age is repeated. Previously it was said that ‘he was a son of six hundred years’, here that the Flood took place in ‘the six hundredth year of his life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day’. No one would ever imagine that Noah’s age, worked out to the exact year, month, and day, is used to mean a state of temptation involving things of the will. Yet, as has been stated, this was how the most ancient people spoke and wrote. And they found their chief delight in being able to work out periods of time and names and then to organize them into a semblance of history. It was in this that their wisdom consisted.

[2] It was shown at verse 6 above however that ‘six hundred years’ means nothing other than an initial state of temptation. Here similarly ‘six hundred years’ is mentioned. But so that it might mean a second state of temptation, months and days have been added – two months in fact, or rather ‘in the second month’, which means conflict itself, as becomes clear from the meaning of the number two given already at verse 6 of this chapter. As has been shown and may be seen there, two has the same meaning as six, that is, labour and conflict and also dispersion. The number seventeen however means not only the onset of temptation but also the end of temptation, the reason being that it is the sum of the numbers seven and ten. When this number means the onset of temptation it then entails ‘seven days’ or a week, which means the onset of temptation, as shown already at verse 4 of this chapter. But when it means the end of temptation, as it does later on in 8:4, seven is then a holy number to which ten, meaning remnants, has been added; for without remnants nobody is able to be regenerated.

[3] That seventeen means the onset of temptation is clear in Jeremiah’s being commanded to buy the field from Hanamel his cousin who was in Anathoth, and to weigh out seventeen shekels of silver, Jer. 32:9. What comes after that in this chapter of the prophet shows that this number also means their captivity in Babylon, which represents the temptation of people who have faith and the devastation of those who have not. Indeed it represents the onset of temptation and at the same time the end of temptation, which is liberation. That captivity is mentioned in Jer. 32:36, and the liberation in verse 37 onwards. Such a number, like every other word that is used, would never have appeared in this prophet if it did not embody arcana.

[4] That seventeen means the onset of temptation becomes clear also from the age of Joseph, who was seventeen years old when he was sent off to his brothers and was sold into Egypt, Gen. 37:2. His being sold into Egypt represents the same kinds of things, as will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown in that chapter. There the representative historical events did take place as described; here however they are made-up historical events carrying a spiritual meaning, which did not actually take place as described in the sense of the letter. Nevertheless the former embody arcana of heaven, right down to every word, as is the case here. This is bound to seem strange, for when any historical event occurs, true or made-up, the mind (animus) is confined to the letter from which it cannot extricate itself. Hence the conviction that nothing else is meant or represented.

[5] Yet it may become clear to anyone who is intelligent that some internal sense exists which has the life of the Word in it, but not in the letter, which devoid of the internal sense is dead. Without the internal sense what would any historical description be but history as found in any secular author? And so what would be the use of knowing Noah’s exact age, or the month and day when the Flood took place, if it did not embody a heavenly arcanum? And who cannot see that ‘all the fountains of the great deep were split open, and the floodgates of heaven were opened’ is a prophetic utterance, as is much else besides?

AC (Elliott) n. 756 756. ‘All the fountains of the great deep were split open’ means the full extent of temptation involving things of the will. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about temptations being of two kinds, the first involving things of the understanding, the second those of the will, and about the latter being severe in comparison with the former. It is clear as well from the fact that up to now temptation involving things of the understanding has been the subject. It is similarly clear from the meaning of ‘the deep’ as evil desires and derivative falsities, as shown already in 18, and also in the following in the Word: In Ezekiel,

Thus says the Lord Jehovah, When I make you a city laid desolate, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall cause the deep to come up over you, and many waters have covered you. Ezek. 26:19.

Here ‘the deep’ and ‘many waters’ stand for the full extent of temptation.
In Jonah,

The waters closed around me, even to my soul, the deep surrounded me. Jonah 2:5.

Here similarly ‘the waters’ and ‘the deep’ stand for the full extent of temptation. In David,

Deep is calling to deep at the noise of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and all Your waves have gone over me. Ps. 42:7.

This plainly stands for the full extent of temptation. In the same author,

He rebuked the Sea Suph and it became dry; He caused them to go through the deeps, as in a desert, and He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and He delivered them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries. Ps. 106:9-11.

Here ‘the deep’ stands for temptations in the wilderness.

[2] In early times ‘the deep’ meant hell, and delusions and persuasions of falsity were likened to waters and streams, and also smoke, pouring out of it. This is also what the hells of some people look like, that is to say, like deeps and like seas. These in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be described later on. The evil spirits who are responsible for man’s vastation, and also for temptation, come from these places. And their delusions which they infuse, and the desires with which they inflame man, are like deluges and vapours pouring out of there. For, as has been stated, man is joined to hell through evil spirits, and to heaven through angels. Consequently when ‘all the fountains of the deep’ are said to have been ‘split open’ matters of that kind are meant. The fact that hell is called the deep, and the foul things that come from there are called streams, is clear in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, On the day he went down into hell, I made him mourn, I covered the deep over him, and I restrained its streams, and the great waters were stayed. Ezek. 31:15.

Hell is also called ‘the deep’ in John, in Rev. 9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3.

AC (Elliott) n. 757 757. ‘The floodgates of heaven were opened’ means the full extent of temptation involving things of the understanding. This too is clear from what is said above. Temptation involving things of the will, which are evil desires, can never be separated from temptation involving those of the understanding. If it were separated, there would be no temptation at all but a deluge like that which occurs with those who lead lives amid the fires of evil desires, in which, like spirits of hell, they feel the delights of their lives. ‘The floodgates of heaven’ are so called from the deluge of falsities or reasonings, concerning which the following is also said in Isaiah,

He who is fleeing at the sound of the terror will fall into the pit; and he who is climbing out of the middle of the pit will be caught in the snare, for the floodgates from on high have been opened and the foundations of the earth have been shaken. Isa. 24:18.

AC (Elliott) n. 758 758. Verse it And there was rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights means the time this temptation lasted, ‘rain’ being temptation, ‘forty days and nights’ its duration.

AC (Elliott) n. 759 759. That ‘rain’ here is temptation becomes clear from what has been stated and shown already about a flood and a deluge, and also from the fact that ‘the fountains of the great deep were split open’ and ‘the floodgates of heaven were opened’ mean temptations.

AC (Elliott) n. 760 760. That ‘forty days and forty nights’ means its duration has been shown above at verse 4. As has been stated, ‘forty’ means the whole duration of temptation, long or short, and indeed severe temptation involving things of the will. For it is through a whole chain of pleasures and through love of the world and self-love, and so through the desires which are the unceasing activities of those loves, that a person has acquired life to himself. Consequently his whole life consists in nothing else than things such as these. This life cannot possibly accord with heavenly life, for nobody can love worldly things and at the same time heavenly. Loving worldly things is looking downwards, loving heavenly looking upwards. Still less can anyone love himself and at the same time the neighbour, and least of all himself and at the same time the Lord. Someone who loves himself hates all who are not subservient to him, and so he who loves himself is very far removed from heavenly love or charity, which consists in loving the neighbour more than self, and the Lord above all things. From these considerations it is clear how far away man’s life is from heavenly life. This being so the Lord regenerates him by means of temptations, and redirects him so that he conforms [to heavenly life]. This is the reason why this temptation is severe. In fact it impinges on, attacks, breaks down, and alters a person’s essential life, which also is why it is described by ‘the fountains of the great deep being split open’ and by ‘the floodgates of heaven being opened’.

AC (Elliott) n. 761 761. It has been stated already that spiritual temptation when it takes place in someone is a conflict between the evil spirits and the angels residing with that person, and that he ordinarily feels that conflict in his conscience. As regards such conflict it should be recognized in addition that the angels are protecting man constantly and are warding off the evils that evil spirits direct against him. They protect even the falsities and the evils with a person, for they are fully aware of where the person’s falsities and evils come from – from evil spirits and genii. Man in no sense produces any falsity and evil from himself. Instead it is the evil spirits residing with him who produce them, and as they do so they also convince him that these originate in himself. Such is the nature of their wickedness. And what is more, the moment they instill this into him and convince him, they also accuse and condemn him. This I can confirm from a multitude of experiences. Anyone who has no faith in the Lord is incapable of being enlightened in the matter; he inevitably believes that an evil is from himself. Consequently he makes the evil his own and becomes like those evil spirits residing with him. Such is the situation with man. And as the angels are aware of it they protect even a person’s falsities and evils while he is undergoing the temptations that are part of regeneration. Otherwise he would go under, for with man there is nothing but evil and derivative falsity, so that he is just a heap and conglomeration of evils and derivative falsities.

AC (Elliott) n. 762 762. Spiritual temptations however are scarcely known nowadays, nor are they allowed to take place as they did in the past, because man is not governed by the truth of faith. If they did take place he would go under. Instead of temptations he undergoes other experiences, such as misfortune, grief, and anxiety which arise from natural or from bodily causes. There are also bodily illnesses and diseases, which to some extent weaken and break down the life of his pleasures and desires, and fix his thoughts on and raise them to higher and nobler things. But these are not spiritual temptations, which do not exist except among people who have received from the Lord a conscience for truth and good. Conscience itself is the level on which temptations take place.

AC (Elliott) n. 763 763. Up to now the subject has been temptations. What follows next concerns the purpose of temptation, which was that a new Church should come into being.

AC (Elliott) n. 764 764. Verse 13 On that very day Noah went in, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, [and Noah’s wife,] and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.

‘They went into the ark’ means here, as previously, that they were saved. ‘Noah’ means what belonged to that Church. ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ means what belonged to the Churches that derived from it. ‘The sons of Noah’ means matters of doctrine. [‘Noah’s wife means the Church itself.] ‘The three wives of his sons with them’ means the derivative Churches themselves.

AC (Elliott) n. 765 765. Up to now the subject has been the temptation of the member of the Church called Noah. Verses 6-10 have first of all dealt with his temptation involving things of the understanding, which are truths of faith. After that verses 11, 12, have dealt with his temptation involving things of the will, which have in view the good deeds of charity. The purpose of the temptations was that the member of the Church, that is, that the new Church, might be born again by means of them, during the time that the Most Ancient Church was dying out. As stated already, this Church was quite different in disposition from the Most Ancient Church; that is to say, it is a spiritual Church, whose nature is such that this individual is born again by means of doctrinal matters concerning faith. Once these have been implanted, conscience is instilled into him to prevent his doing things contrary to the truth and good of faith. In this way charity is conferred on him which then governs his conscience, from which he accordingly starts to act. From these considerations it becomes clear what a spiritual man is; he is not one who imagines that faith without charity saves, but one who makes charity the essential element of faith, and acts from it. To bring such a person or Church into being was the end in view, and this is why this Church itself is dealt with next. The fact that it is the Church which is dealt with next becomes clear also from the repetition so to speak of the same point, for it is said here that, ‘On that very day Noah went in, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark’, which is similar to verse 7 above, though that verse reads, ‘And Noah went in, and his sons and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him into the ark’. Since the subject is now the Church however, the sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth are mentioned by name; and when so mentioned by name they mean the member of the Church. But when they are called ‘sons without the addition of their names they mean truths of faith. In addition, what has been stated already in verses 8, 9, about beasts and birds going into the ark is repeated once again in verses 14-16, but with certain changes that are here fitting and applicable to the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 767 767.* ‘They went into the ark’ means that they were saved, that is to say, the member of the church who was Noah, and every other Church descending and deriving from him to which this statement refers. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about ‘going into the ark’.
* There is no paragraph 766 in the Latin.

AC (Elliott) n. 768 768. ‘Noah’ means what belonged to that Church, and ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ what belonged to the Churches that derived from it. This is clear from the fact that here they are not called simply ‘his sons’, as they were previously in verse 7, but that their names are added as well. When their names are mentioned in this way they mean the member of the Church. The member of the Church is not only the Church itself, but also everything belonging to it. It is a general term embracing whatever belongs to the Church, as stated already in reference to the Most Ancient Church which was called Man, and likewise in reference to the others mentioned by name. ‘Noah’ therefore and ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ mean whatever belongs in its entirety to the Church and to the Churches deriving from it.

[2] Such is the style and manner of expression used in the Word. For example, when Judah is mentioned in the Prophets it means in most cases the celestial Church or whatever belongs to that Church. When Israel is mentioned it means in most cases the spiritual Church or whatever belongs to that Church. And when it is Jacob it means the external Church. For with every member of the Church there exist the internal aspect of the Church and the external. The internal is where the true Church is to be found, while the external is what derives from it, which is Jacob.

[3] It is different when they are not mentioned by name, for the reason that in that case they relate to the Lord’s kingdom in a representative fashion. The Lord is the only Man, and is the All of His kingdom. And because the Church is the Lord’s kingdom on earth, the Lord alone is the All of the Church. The All of the Church is love or charity, and therefore ‘man’, or what amounts to the same, someone who is mentioned by name means love or charity, that is, the All of the Church. ‘Wife’ in that case means quite simply the Church that comes from it, as is also the case here. The character of the Churches meant by ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ however will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 769 769. ‘The sons of Noah’ means matters of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sons’ dealt with already. Indeed a Church cannot exist without doctrines; hence not only are their names given but the phrase ‘his sons’ is added as well.

AC (Elliott) n. 770 770. ‘Noah’s wife’ means the Church itself, and ‘the three wives of his sons with them’ the derivative Churches themselves. This is clear from what has been stated, that is to say, when the member of the Church is mentioned by name, the all of the Church is meant, or as it is called, the head of the Church. ‘Wife’ in that case is the Church, as shown already in 252, 253. It is different when ‘man and wife’ or ‘male and female’ are mentioned in the Word. In that case ‘man’ and ‘male’ mean things of the understanding, which are the truths of faith, while ‘wife’ and ‘female’ mean things of the will, which are the goods of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 771 771. Since every expression in the Word comes from the Lord and so has the Divine within it, it is clear that not one expression, not even one iota, is there which does not mean and embody something. The same holds true here with the expressions ‘the three wives’, and also ‘the wives of his Sons’, as well as ‘with them’. But what these particular phrases embody would take too long to explain. It is enough if one supplies just a general idea of their most general meanings.

AC (Elliott) n. 772 772. Verses 14, 15 They, and every wild animal according to its kind, and every beast according to its kind, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every flying thing, and every winged thing. And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two from all flesh in which there was the spirit of life.*

‘They’ means in general the member of the Church. ‘Every wild animal according to its kind’ means all spiritual good. ‘[Every] beast according to its kind’ means natural good. ‘Every creeping thing that creeps over the earth according to its kind’ means all sensory and bodily good. ‘Every bird according to its kind’ means all spiritual truth. ‘Flying thing’ means natural truth. ‘Winged thing’ means sensory truth. ‘They went in to Noah into the ark’ means, as previously, that they were saved. ‘Two and two’ means, as previously, pairs. ‘Of all flesh in which there is the spirit of life’* means a new creature, or the fact that they received new life from the Lord.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 773 773. ‘They’ means in general the member of the Church or everything that belonged to that Church. This is clear from the fact that ‘they’ refers to the characters who have just been mentioned by name, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Although there are four of them, they nevertheless together constitute a single whole. For Noah, who is used in general to mean the Ancient Church, includes, as the parent or seed, the Churches that sprang from it. Hence ‘they’ means the Ancient Church. All of the Churches which are called Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together constitute the Church called the Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 774 774. ‘[Every] wild animal according to its kind’ means all spiritual good, ‘[every] beast according to its kind’ all natural good, and ‘[every] creeping thing that creeps over the earth [according to its kind]’ all sensory and bodily good. This has been stated and shown already in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246. At first glance however it does not look at all possible for ‘wild animal’ to mean spiritual good. It becomes clear that it does so from the train of thought: first of all ‘they’ are mentioned, that is, the member of the Church, after that ‘wild animal’, then ‘beast’, and finally ‘creeping thing’. Consequently ‘wild animal’ embodies something nobler and more excellent than ‘beast’ does, the reason being that in Hebrew the word used also means a living creature which contains a living soul. And so here also it does not mean a wild animal but a living creature containing a living soul, for it is the same word. That ‘living creatures, beasts, and creeping things that creep over the earth’ means things of the will has been stated and shown already, and further evidence will be shown later on where birds are dealt with.

AC (Elliott) n. 775 775. Since there are genera and species to all things, that is to say, to spiritual goods as well as to natural goods, and also to derivative sensory and bodily goods, ‘according to its kind’* is said of each one. The genera of spiritual goods are so many, and the genera of spiritual truths are in like manner so many, that they cannot possibly be counted up, still less the species making up the genera. In heaven all celestial and spiritual goods and truths are so divided into their own genera, and these in turn into their own species, that the least significant of them is distinct from all the rest. And they are so countless that specific differences may be called unending. These considerations show how impoverished, and almost non-existent, human wisdom is, in that it hardly knows of the existence of spiritual good and truth, let alone what these may be.

[2] It is from celestial and spiritual goods, and truths springing from these, that natural goods and truths come into being and pass down. For no natural good or truth ever exists which has not come into being from spiritual good, and this in turn from celestial good, and which is not kept in being from these same sources. If the spiritual were to withdraw from the natural, the natural would not be anything. With regard to the origin of all things, every single thing comes from the Lord. From Him comes the celestial; by way of the celestial from Him the spiritual comes into being; by way of the spiritual comes the natural; by way of the natural comes that which constitutes the body and the senses. And just as these come into being from the Lord in this way, so in the same way they are kept in being, for as is well known, being kept in being is constant coming into being. People who assume that things arise and come into being in any other way, as those do who worship nature and trace the origin of things back to that, are governed by assumptions so dismal that the delusions of wild animals roaming the forest can be said to contain far more sanity. There are many such persons who seem to themselves to excel everybody else in wisdom.
* or its species

AC (Elliott) n. 776 776. ‘[Every] bird according to its kind’ means all spiritual truth, ‘flying things’ means natural truth, and ‘winged thing’ sensory truth. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already about birds, as in 40. The most ancient people likened man’s thoughts to birds, for in relation to things of the will, thoughts are like birds. Since bird, flying thing, and winged thing are mentioned here, and come consecutively in the way that intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and sensory impressions do in man, and to prevent anyone doubting that this is what they mean, let other places from the Word of a confirmatory nature be quoted, from which as well it will be evident that ‘beasts’ means such things as have been stated.

[2] In David,

You have given Him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the fields, the flying things of the air,* and the fish of the sea. Ps. 8:6-8.

This refers to the Lord, whose dominion over man and over what belongs to man is described in this fashion. If this were not so, what would ‘dominion over beasts and birds’ really be? In the same author,

Fruit tree and all cedars, wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and flying thing – they shall glorify the name of Jehovah. Ps. 148:9, 10, 13.

‘Fruit tree’ is the celestial man, ‘cedar’ the spiritual man, ‘wild animal and beast and creeping thing’ the goods of these kinds of man, as in the present context. ‘Flying thing’ is their truths from which they are able to glorify the name of Jehovah. This a wild animal, a beast, a creeping thing, or a flying thing can never do. In secular literature such statements can be used as hyperbole, but in the Word of the Lord they are never just hyperbole but meaningful signs and representatives.

[3] In Ezekiel,

They start to tremble before Me – the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air,** and the wild animals of the field, and every creeping thing creeping over the ground, and every man that is on the face*** of the ground. Ezek. 38:20.

The fact that ‘beasts’ and ‘birds’ here have such meanings is quite clear, for what would Jehovah’s glory be if fish, birds, and beasts were to start to tremble? Could anyone think that such utterances are holy if they did not embody holy things within them? In Jeremiah,

I looked, and behold, there was no man; all the birds of the air** had fled. Jer. 4:15.

This stands for all good and truth. Here ‘man’ stands as well for good that stems from love. In the same prophet,

They have been laid waste so that no man passes through, neither do men hear the voice of the herd. From the birds of the air** down to beasts, they have scattered, they have gone away. Jer. 9:10.

This in a similar way stands for the departure of all truth and good.

[4] In the same prophet,

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts and the birds have perished, for men said, He will not see our latter end. Jer. 11:4.

Here ‘beasts’ stands for goods, and ‘birds’ for truths, which perished. In Zephaniah,

I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the air** and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off mankind from the face**** of the ground. Zeph. 1:3.

Here ‘man and beast’ stands for the things which belong to love and good deriving from love, ‘the birds of the air** and the fish of the sea’ for those which belong to the understanding and so to truth. These are called ‘stumbling-blocks’ because for wicked people it is goods and truths, not beasts and birds, that are stumbling-blocks. These are also plainly referred to as man’s. In David,

The trees of Jehovah are watered abundantly, and the cedars of Lebanon which He planted. In them flying things build their nests. Ps. 104:16, 17.

‘The trees of Jehovah and the cedars of Lebanon’ stands for spiritual man, ‘flying things’ for his rational or natural truths which are like ‘nests’. What is more, ‘the birds build nests in the branches’ was a common saying by which people meant truths, as in Ezekiel,

[5] On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bring forth a branch, and bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and under it will dwell every flying thing of every sort,***** in the shade of its branches they will dwell. Ezek. 17:23.

This stands for the Church among gentiles which was spiritual and which is ‘a noble cedar’. ‘Birds of every sort’***** stands for truths of every kind. In the same prophet,

In its branches all the birds of the air** made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezek. 31:6.

This refers to Asshur, which is the spiritual Church and is called ‘a cedar’. ‘Birds of the air’** stands for its truths, ‘beasts’ for its goods.

[6] In Daniel,

Its branch was fair, and its fruit much, and food for all was on it. The beast of the field had shade under it, and in its branches dwelt the flying things of the air’* Dan. 4:12, 11.

Here ‘beast’ stands for goods, and ‘flying thing of the air’* for truths. This may become clear to anyone, for what else would bird and beast dwelling there really be? The same applies to what the Lord said, The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a big tree so that the birds of the air* dwelt in its branches. Luke 13:19; Matt. 13:32; Mark 4:32.
* lit. flying thing of the heavens (or the skies)
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
*** lit. over the faces
**** lit. the faces
***** lit. of every wing

AC (Elliott) n. 777 777. That ‘bird’ means spiritual truth, ‘flying thing’ natural truth, and ‘winged thing’ sensory truth, is clear from what is said above, as also is the fact that truths are in this way different. Sensory truths, which come through seeing and hearing, are called ‘winged things’ because they are outermost. ‘Wing’ has a similar meaning when applied to other things.

AC (Elliott) n. 778 778. As then ‘birds of the air’* means intellectual truths and so thoughts, they also mean things that are the contrary, such as delusions or falsities, which because they are part of man’s thought are called birds as well. ‘The wicked being given as food to birds of the air* and to wild animals’, for example, stands for delusions and evil desires, Isa. 18:6; Jer. 7:33; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezek. 29:5; 39:4. Also the Lord Himself compares delusions and persuasions of falsity to birds when He says,

The seed which fell on the pathway was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air* devoured it. Matt. 13:4; Luke 8:5; Mark 4:4, 15.

Here ‘birds of the air’* are nothing other than falsities.
* lit. birds of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 779 779. They went in to Noah into the ark’ means that they were saved. This has been stated already. As for ‘two and two’ meaning pairs, and what they are, see the previous chapter at 6:19.

AC (Elliott) n. 780 780. ‘Of all flesh in which there was the spirit of life* means a new creature, or the fact that they received new life from the Lord. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘flesh’ as all mankind in general and a bodily-minded person in particular, as stated and shown already. Consequently ‘flesh in which there was the spirit of life’* means a person who has been regenerated, for the Lord’s life, which is the life of charity and faith, is there within his proprium. Nobody is anything more than flesh, but when the life of charity and faith is breathed into him by the Lord, his flesh in that case is made alive, becomes spiritual and celestial, and is called ‘a new creature’, Mark 16:15, from having been created anew.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 781 781. Verse 16 And those who were going in, male and female of all flesh, went in, as God had commanded him; and Jehovah closed the way behind him.

‘Those who were going in’ means things residing with the member of the Church. ‘Male and female of all flesh went in’ means that truths and goods of every kind resided with him. ‘As God had commanded’ means for the reception of which he had been made ready. ‘And Jehovah closed the way behind him’ means that man no longer had the kind of communication with heaven that the member of the celestial Church had had.

AC (Elliott) n. 782 782. The subject so far has been as follows: Down to verse 11 explains that the Church was preserved among those called Noah. Then comes a description of the state of the Church – first of all in this present section, as has been explained. After that comes a description of the nature of the state of this Church. Individual verses, indeed individual words, embody the specific features of its state. And since the subject at present is the state of the Church, what has been said already just above is repeated, indeed repeated twice over. That is to say, ‘And those who were going in, male and female of all flesh, went in’, repeats twice over the statement made in the previous verse, ‘And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two, of all flesh’. The meaning of such repetition in the Word is that a different state is being dealt with. Otherwise, as anyone can appreciate, the repetition would be utterly pointless.

AC (Elliott) n. 783 783. ‘Those who were going in’ means things residing with the member of the Church. This is clear from what has just been stated. It also follows that ‘male and female of all flesh went in’ means that truths and goods of every kind resided with him, for the fact that ‘male and female’ means truths and goods has been stated and shown several times already. ‘As God had commanded’ means for the reception of which he had been made ready. The meaning of statements such as this has also been discussed already. With reference to the Lord, ‘commanding’ means preparing and carrying out.

AC (Elliott) n. 784 784. The implications of ‘Jehovah closed the way behind him’ meaning that man no longer had the kind of communication with heaven that the member of the celestial Church had had are as follows: The state of the Most Ancient Church was such that men had an inward communication with heaven, and so by way of heaven with the Lord. They were governed by love to the Lord, and people who are governed by love to the Lord are like angels, the only difference being that they are clothed with a [physical] body. Their interiors were unconcealed and lay open all the way from the Lord. But it was different with this new Church. It was governed not by love to the Lord, but in and through faith, by charity towards the neighbour. They could not have, as the most ancient people had, any inward communication, only external. It would take too long however to discuss the nature of these two kinds of communication. Everybody has a communication of some kind, including the wicked, through the angels residing with them, though there are different degrees of it, from fairly close to quite remote. Without it a person could not exist. The degrees of communication are unending. A spiritual man cannot possibly have the kind of communication that a celestial man has, the reason being that the Lord dwells in love, and less so in faith. This is what the present statement means about Jehovah closing the way behind him.

[2] Since those times heaven has never been open in the way it was for the member of the Most Ancient Church. Many people in later times have indeed talked to spirits and angels – for example, Moses, Aaron, and others – but they did so in a completely different way. This, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, will be dealt with later on. The reason why heaven has been closed is a very deep arcanum, as also is the reason why it is so closed nowadays that no one knows even of the existence of spirits, let alone that angels are residing with him. He imagines that when he is not with fellow men in the world and when thinking all by himself he is completely alone. In fact however he is constantly in the company of spirits who observe and perceive very accurately what a person is thinking and what he intends and devises, as accurately and clearly as if this manifested itself for all the world to see. Of this man is not at all directly conscious, so closed is heaven to him. Nevertheless it is utterly true. The reason he is not conscious of it is that if heaven were not in this way closed to him at a time when faith is non-existent with him, still less the truth of faith, and charity even less, he would stand in very great danger. This was the meaning also of Jehovah God’s casting man out and causing cherubim to dwell at the east end of the Garden of Eden, with a flaming sword turning about to guard the way to the tree of life,* dealt with already in Chapter 3:14. See also 301-307.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 785 785. Verses 17, 18 And the flood was forty days over the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark and lifted it above the earth. And the waters grew stronger and increased greatly over the earth; and the ark went over the face* of the waters.

‘Forty days’ means the duration of the Church called Noah. ‘The flood’ means the falsities which continued to inundate it. ‘The waters increased and raised up the ark and lifted it above the earth’ means that in such manner it wavered. ‘The waters grew stronger and increased greatly over the earth, and the ark went over the face* of the waters’ means that in such manner its waverings grew stronger.
* lit. over the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 786 786. That ‘forty days’ means the duration of the Church called Noah has been shown above at verse 4. The present verse says ‘forty days’, but verse 4 says ‘forty days and nights’ because at that point the duration of temptation was meant, the ‘nights’ of which are anxieties.

AC (Elliott) n. 787 787. ‘The flood’ means the falsities which continued to inundate the Church. This too follows on from what has been pointed out above, for the flood or deluge was nothing else than a flood of falsities. Previously, in verse 6 ‘a flood of waters’ meant temptation, as was shown at that point, and that deluge also is one of falsities which evil spirits at that time activate with man. The present verse refers to something similar, but temptation is not involved. Hence simply ‘a flood’ is mentioned and not a flood of waters.

AC (Elliott) n. 788 788. ‘The waters increased and raised the ark and lifted it above the earth’ means that in such manner it wavered; and ‘the waters grew stronger and increased greatly over the earth, and the ark went over the face* of the waters’ means that in such manner its waverings grew stronger. This does not become clear unless the nature of the state of this Church called Noah is stated beforehand. ‘Noah’ was not the Ancient Church itself but, as already stated, was like the parent or seed of that Church. But Noah together with Shem, Ham, and Japheth constituted the Ancient Church that followed immediately after the Most Ancient Church. Every member of the Church called Noah belonged to the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, and therefore as far as hereditary evil was concerned his state was little different from that of other descendants who did not survive. Those whose state was little different were unable to be regenerated and become spiritual as those could whose hereditary disposition was not like theirs. The nature of their hereditary disposition has been stated already in 310, but to enable people to have a better knowledge of it let the following be said.

[2] People who belong to the seed of Jacob, such as the Jews, cannot be regenerated so easily as gentiles. The reverse of faith is ingrained within them not only on account of the assumptions they have adopted since early childhood and subsequently confirmed, but also on account of their heredity. That it is also ingrained within them on account of their heredity becomes clear to some extent from the consideration that they are by disposition different from others, indeed have different customs and also different facial features from others, by which they can be singled out, such characteristics being theirs by heredity. And the same applies to their interior peculiarities, for customs and facial features are the imprints of the things within. This also is why converted Jews, more than anybody else, waver between truth and falsity. It was similar with the first people of this Church who were called Noah, for they belonged to the stock and seed of the most ancient people. These waverings are what are being described here, and in what follows further on where it is said that Noah was a man of the ground and that he planted a vineyard, and drank some of the wine, and became drunk, so that he lay naked in the middle of his tent, Gen. 9:20, 21. That those people were few has been made clear to me from the consideration that the member (homo) of that Church is represented in the world of spirits as a tall slim man (vir) clothed in white, in a narrow room. Even so these were the people who preserved and possessed among themselves doctrinal matters concerning faith.
* lit. over the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 789 789. The waverings of the member of this Church are described here first of all by the waters, that is, falsities, increasing; then by their raising the ark; further still by its being lifted above the earth; after that by the waters growing more and more and increasing greatly over the earth; and finally by the ark going over the face* of the waters. It would however take far too long and it would be superfluous to describe individual waverings. It is sufficient just to know that they are being described here. Let merely the statement be considered that the ark was lifted above the earth and went over the face* of the waters. Its meaning becomes clear to no one unless he has been told about how a person is withheld from evils and falsities. This being an arcanum it must be described briefly. Everyone in general, including a regenerate person, is such that unless the Lord withholds him from evils and falsities he hurls himself headlong into hell. The moment he is not being withheld he rushes headlong in that direction. This has been made known to me through actual experiences, and has also been represented to me by a horse, about which see 187, 188. This withholding from evils and falsities is nothing other than ‘a lifting up’ so that evils and falsities are perceived as being beneath, and man himself above. This lifting up will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on. It is what is meant by the statements about the ark being lifted above the earth and about the ark going over the face* of the waters.
* lit. over the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 790 790. ‘Waters’ here and in what follows means falsities. This becomes clear from the places in the Word quoted in the preliminary section of this chapter* and from those at verse 6 of this chapter, where the flood or inundation of waters is the subject. In those places it was shown that ‘inundations of waters’ meant desolations and temptations, which entail the same thing as falsities, for desolations and temptations are nothing else than inundations of falsities that have been activated by evil spirits. The reason why such waters mean falsities is that generally ‘waters’ in the Word means that which is spiritual, that is, that which is intellectual, rational, and factual. And since waters mean these they also mean their opposites, for every falsity is a factual matter, and seemingly rational and intellectual since it is a matter belonging to thought.

[2] That ‘waters’ means spiritual things is clear from very many places in the Word. But that ‘waters’ also means falsities, let the passages that follow, in addition to those quoted already, serve to confirm the point. In Isaiah,

This people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go out gently. Therefore, behold the Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many. And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks. Isa. 8:6, 7.

Here ‘waters that go out gently’ stands for spiritual things, ‘waters mighty and many’ for falsities. In the same prophet,

Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Gush, sending ambassadors to the sea, and in vessels of papyrus over the face’ of the waters! Go, you swift ambassadors, to a nation marked out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled. Isa. 18:1, 2.

This stands for falsities, which belong to ‘the land shadowing with wings’.

[3] In the same prophet,

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. Isa. 43:2.

‘Waters’ and ‘rivers’ stand for difficulties, and also for falsities. In Jeremiah,

What have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River? Jer. 2:18.

‘Waters’ stands for falsities arising out of reasonings. In the same prophet,

Who is this coming up like a river, like the rivers his waters are tossed about? Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers his waters are tossed about. And he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. Jer. 46:7, 8.

‘Waters’ stands for falsities arising out of reasonings.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall cause the deep to come up over you, and many waters have covered you, I will cause you to go down with those who go down into the Pit. Ezek. 16:19, 20.

‘Waters’ stands for evils and derivative falsities. In Habakkuk,

You did trample the sea with Your horses, the mud of many waters. Hab. 3:15.

‘Waters’ stands for falsities. In John,

The dragon poured water like a stream out of his mouth after the woman, to swallow her up in the river. Rev. 11:15, 16.

Here ‘waters’ stands for falsities and lies. In David,

Send forth Your hands from on high, rescue me, and deliver me from the many waters, from the hands of sons of the foreigner, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are right hands of falsity. Ps. 144:7, 8.

Here ‘many waters’ clearly stands for falsities, and ‘sons of the foreigner also means falsities.

AC (Elliott) n. 791 791. Up to now the subject has been Noah, or regenerate people called Noah, who were inside the ark and were lifted above the waters. What follows next deals with the descendants of the Most Ancient Church who were under the waters, that is, were overwhelmed by the waters.

AC (Elliott) n. 792 792. Verses 19, 20 And the waters grew stronger and stronger over the earth, and all the high mountains beneath the whole sky were covered. For fifteen cubits upwards the waters prevailed and covered the mountains.

‘The waters grew stronger and stronger over the earth’ means that persuasions of falsity increased in this way. ‘And all the high mountains beneath the whole sky were covered’ means that all goods stemming from charity were done away with. ‘From fifteen cubits upwards the waters prevailed and covered the mountains’ means that no trace of charity remained, ‘fifteen’ meaning things so few as to be scarcely any at all.

AC (Elliott) n. 793 793. From this point onwards to the end of the present chapter the subject is the people before the Flood who perished. This becomes clear from the details in the description given. People who possess the internal sense can recognize instantly, and indeed from any single word, what the subject is, better still from the combination of many. When the subject changes different words instantly appear, or else the same words combined differently. The reason is that some words are peculiar to spiritual matters, others peculiar to celestial; or what amounts to the same, some are peculiar to things of the understanding, others to those of the will. For example, ‘desolation’ is a word used of spiritual things, ‘vastation’ of celestial; ‘city’ is used of spiritual, ‘mountain’ of celestial; and so on. The same applies to combinations of words. And what is bound to amaze everybody, the difference in Hebrew is frequently just a matter of vocalization. In what belongs to the class of spiritual words the first three vowels [of the alphabet] are normally prominent, but in the case of what is celestial the last two. The fact that these verses contain a different subject is also discernible from the repetition discussed already. That is to say, the statement, ‘And the waters grew stronger and stronger over the earth’, is a repetition of what has already been stated in the previous verse. It is also discernible from everything that follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 794 794. ‘And the waters grew stronger and stronger over the earth’ means that persuasions of falsity increased in this way. This is clear from what has been stated and shown just above about waters, namely that ‘the waters of the flood’ or inundations means falsities. Here since falsities, or persuasions of falsity, increased still more it is said that ‘the waters grew stronger and stronger’, which in the original language is the superlative degree. Falsities are false assumptions and persuasions of falsity, which increased enormously among the people before the Flood, as is clear from what has been stated concerning them already. Persuasions increase enormously when people immerse truths in evil desires, that is, make those truths support self-love and love of the world. Indeed in those circumstances they pervert those truths, and in a thousand ways force them to agree. For what person is there who, having adopted a false assumption, or made one for himself, does not confirm it from the many facts he knows, even indeed from the Word? Is there any heresy which does not in like manner take hold of confirmatory ideas, and which does not force things that do not agree, and in different ways explain and distort them so that they disagree no longer?

[2] Take for example someone who adopts the assumption that faith alone saves without the good works of charity. Can he not weave an entire system of doctrine from the Word and yet not care in the slightest, not even pay attention to, or indeed notice what the Lord has said about a tree being known by its fruit, and about the tree that does not bear good fruit being cut down and thrown into the fire, Matt. 7:16-20; 12:33? What could be more appealing than living after the flesh and at the same time being saved by merely knowing what is true and not having to perform any good action at all? Every evil desire which a person fosters constitutes the life of his will, and every false assumption or persuasion constitutes the life of his understanding. The life of his will and that of his understanding make one when truths, or doctrinal matters concerning faith, are immersed in evil desires. Everybody in this way forms a soul for himself so to speak, and of such a nature does his life become after death. Consequently nothing is of greater importance to man than knowing what the truth is. When he knows what the truth is, and knows it so well that it cannot be perverted, it cannot then be steeped in evil desires and have deadly effect. What more ought anyone to have at heart than his life which lasts for ever? If he destroys his soul during his lifetime, does he not destroy it for ever?

AC (Elliott) n. 795 795. ‘All the high mountains beneath the whole sky were covered’ means that all goods stemming from charity were done away with. This is clear from the meaning of ‘mountains’ among the most ancient people. Among them ‘mountains’ meant the Lord, for they conducted their worship of Him on mountains because these were the loftiest parts of the earth. Consequently ‘mountains’ meant heavenly things which they also called ‘the most high’, and accordingly love and charity, and so the goods that stem from love and charity, which are heavenly things. In the contrary sense also, the people who are haughty are called ‘mountains’ in the Word, and so mountains also mean self-love. The Most Ancient Church also is meant in the Word by ‘mountains’ from the fact that mountains rose up above the earth and were nearer so to speak to heaven, where things have their origins.

[2] That ‘mountains’ means the Lord, and all heavenly things deriving from Him, that is, goods that stem from love and charity, is clear from the following places in the Word. These show what ‘mountains’ means in particular, for every single detail takes its meaning from the matter to which it applies. In David,

The mountains will bring peace, and the hills, in righteousness. Ps. 72:3.

‘Mountains’ stands for love to the Lord, ‘hills’ for love towards the neighbour, such as existed with the Most Ancient Church, which, since it was of such a nature, is also meant in the Word by ‘mountains’ and therefore ‘hills’. In Ezekiel,

On My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, said the Lord Jehovih, there all the house of Israel, all of them that are in the land, will serve Me. Ezek. 20:40.

Here ‘holy mountain’ stands for love to the Lord, ‘mountain height of Israel’ for charity towards the neighbour. In Isaiah,

It will be in the latter days that the mountain of the house Jehovah will be established on the top of the mountains, and raised above the hilts. Isa. 2:2.

This stands for the Lord and consequently for everything heavenly.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jehovah Zebaoth will make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of fat things, and He will swallow up on this mountain the face* of the covering. Isa. 25:6, 7.

‘Mountain’ stands for the Lord and consequently for everything heavenly. In the same prophet,

It will be that on every high mountain, and on every lofty hill, there will be brooks, streams of water. Isa. 30:25.

Mountains’ stands for goods that stem from love, ‘hills’ for goods that stem from charity, such goods being the source of truths of faith, which are ‘brooks and streams of water’. In the same prophet,

You will have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed, and joy of heart as when one goes with a flute to come to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. Isa. 30:29.

‘Mountain of Jehovah’ stands for the Lord with reference to goods that stem from love, ‘Rock of Israel’ for the Lord with reference to goods that stem from charity.

[4] In the same prophet,

Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isa. 31:4.

Here and in many other places ‘Mount Zion’ stands for the Lord and consequently for everything celestial, which is love, and ‘hill’ for what is celestial but lower, which is charity.

In the same prophet,

Get you up on to the high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings. Isa. 40:9.

‘Getting up on to the high mountain and declaring good tidings’ is worshipping the Lord from love and charity, which are inmost things, and are therefore also called most high. That which is inmost is referred to as the most high. In the same prophet,

Let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Isa. 42:11.

‘Inhabitants of the rock’ stands for those who abide in charity, ‘shouting from the top of the mountains’ for worshipping the Lord from love. In the same prophet,

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of Him who is bringing good tidings, causing peace to be heard, bringing good tidings of good, causing salvation to be heard. Isa. 52:7

‘Bringing good tidings on the mountains’ in like manner stands for preaching about the Lord from doctrine concerning love and charity, and for worshipping from these. In the same prophet,

The mountains and the hills will resound before you with song, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isa. 55:12.

This stands for worshipping the Lord from love and charity, which are ‘the mountains and the hills’, and from faith deriving from these, which is ‘the trees of the field’.

[5] In the same prophet,

I will set all My mountains as a way, and My pathways will be raised up. Isa. 49:11.

‘Mountains’ stands for love and charity, ‘way’ and ‘pathway’ for the truths of faith deriving from these, which are said to be ‘raised up’ when they stem from love and charity, which are inmost. In the same prophet,

He who trusts in Me will take possession in the land, and will inherit My holy mountain. Isa. 57:13.

This stands for the Lord’s kingdom where there is nothing other than love and charity. In the same prophet,

I will bring forth seed from Jacob, and from Judah the heir of My mountains, and My chosen ones will possess it. Isa. 65:9.

‘Mountains’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom and for celestial goods, and ‘Judah’ for the celestial Church. In the same prophet,

Thus said the High and Lofty One inhabiting eternity, whose name is the Holy One. I dwell as the High and Holy One Isa. 57:15.

Here ‘high’ stands for holy. Consequently ‘mountains’, on account of their height above the earth, meant the Lord, and holy heavenly things that are His. This also is why it was from Mount Sinai that the Lord proclaimed the Law. Love and charity are also what the Lord means by ‘mountains’ when, in reference to the close of the age, He says that those who were then in Judaea were to flee to the mountains, Matt. 24:16; Luke 21:21; Mark 13:14. Here ‘Judaea’ stands for the vastated Church.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 796 796. Because the Most Ancient Church conducted holy worship on mountains, the Ancient Churches therefore did so as well. Consequently with all the representative Churches of that time, and indeed with ‘the nations’ too, sacrifices were offered on mountains, and high places were built. This is clear from what is said about Abram in Gen. 12:8; 22:2; about the Jews before the Temple was built, in Deut. 27:4-7; Josh. 8:30; 1 Sam. 9:12-14, 19; 10:5; 1 Kings 3:2-4; about the nations, in Deut. 12:2; 2 Kings 17:9-11; about the Jews, who were idolaters, in Isa. 57:7; 1 Kings 11:7; 14:23; 22:43; 2 Kings 12:3; 14:4; 15:3, 4, 34, 35; 16:4; 17:9-11; 21:5, 8, 9, 13, 15.

AC (Elliott) n. 797 797. From all these considerations it is now clear what is meant by ‘the waters with which the mountains were covered’, namely that persuasions of falsity did away with all good that stemmed from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 798 798. ‘From fifteen cubits upwards the waters prevailed and covered the mountains’ means that no trace of charity remained; and ‘fifteen’ means things so few as to be scarcely any at all. This becomes clear from the meaning of the number ‘five’, dealt with in Chapter 6:15. There it was shown that in the style of the Word, that is, in the internal sense, ‘five’ means those that are few. And since the number fifteen is the sum of five, which means few, and of ten, which means remnants, as has been shown at 6:3, this number has regard to remnants, which with those people were hardly anything at all. For so great were the persuasions of falsity that they did away with everything good. With regard to the remnants residing with man, the false assumptions, as stated already, and still more the persuasions of falsity, were of such a nature with the people before the Flood that they shut in and shut away remnants so completely that they could not be brought out. And if they had been brought out they would have been falsified in an instant. Indeed the life inherent in persuasions is such that it not only rejects everything true and soaks up everything false, but also perverts any truth that goes near it.

AC (Elliott) n. 799 799. Verses 21, 22 And all flesh creeping over the earth breathed its last – birds, beasts, wild animals, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth; and every man. Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life* in its nostrils, everything that was on the dry land, died. ‘All flesh creeping over the earth breathed its last’ means that those who belonged to the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church were annihilated. ‘Birds, beasts, wild animals, every creeping thing that creeps over the earth’ means their persuasions, among which ‘birds’ were affections for falsity, ‘beasts’ were evil desires, ‘wild animals’ pleasures, ‘creeping things’ bodily and earthly interests. These in their entirety are called ‘every man’. ‘Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life’ in its nostrils’ means people belonging to the Most Ancient Church, who had ‘the breath of the spirit of life* in their nostrils’, that is, the life of love and of faith deriving from love. ‘Everything that was on the dry land’ means those in whom nothing of that kind of life existed any more. ‘They died’ means that they breathed their last.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 800 800. ‘All flesh that creeps over the earth breathed its last’ means that those who belonged to the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church were annihilated. This is clear from what follows, where they are described in respect to their persuasions and their desires. Here they are first of all called ‘flesh that creeps over the earth’, for the reason that they were become utterly sensory-minded and bodily-minded. As already stated, sensory and bodily things were likened by the most ancient people to ‘creeping things’. Consequently when the phrase ‘flesh that creeps over the earth’ is used, the kind of person who has become wholly sensory-minded and bodily-minded is meant. That ‘flesh’ means all mankind in general and a bodily-minded person in particular has been stated and shown already.

AC (Elliott) n. 801 801. This description of these people before the Flood shows the nature of the style used by the most ancient people, and consequently of the prophetical style. From here down to the end of this chapter these people are described, in the present verses as regards their persuasions, and in verse 23 that follows as regards their desires. That is, they are described as regards the state of the things of their understanding, and after that as regards the state of those of their will. Although the proper things of the understanding and of the will did not exist in them, the things in them that were the reverse of these must nevertheless be called things of the understanding and will. Though in no sense things of the understanding, persuasions of falsity must be called such because they are matters of thought and reasoning; and the same applies to desires which are in no sense things of the will. Those people are described, as I say, first of all as regards their persuasions of falsity, and after that as regards their desires. This is the reason why verse 23 which follows repeats, though in a different order, the things referred to in this verse 21.

[2] Such also is the prophetical style, the reason being that there are two kinds of life with man – the first belonging to things of the understanding, the second to those of the will – which are very distinct and separate from each other. Man is composed of both, and although they are separated in man nowadays, they still flow one into the other and for the most part unite. The fact that they unite, and how they do so, could be established and illustrated in many ways. Since man is therefore composed of these two parts – understanding and will – and one flows into the other, the Word when describing man describes each part separately, which is the reason for repetitions; otherwise the description would be defective. As with the will and understanding here, so with everything else. It is their subjects that make things exactly what they are. Being the product of their subjects, they are attributes of those subjects. Things separated from their subject, that is, from their substance, are not anything. This is the reason why when the Word describes something it does so as regards both areas. In this way the description of everything is made complete.

AC (Elliott) n. 802 802. As regards persuasions being the subject in this verse and evil desires in verse 27, this may be recognized from the consideration that in the present verse birds are mentioned first and beasts next – for ‘birds’ means things of the understanding or of the rational, while ‘beasts’ means those of the will – whereas in verse 23, when things to do with evil desires are being described, beasts are mentioned first and birds next. The reason, as has been stated, is that the two flow reciprocally one into the other, and in this way the description of them is made complete.

AC (Elliott) n. 803 803. ‘Birds, beasts, wild animals, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth’ means their persuasions, among which ‘birds’ means affections for falsity, ‘beasts’ evil desires, wild animals’ pleasures, ‘creeping thing that creeps’ bodily and earthly interests. This becomes clear from what has been shown already about the meaning of birds and beasts – about birds in 40, and above at verses 14, 15, of this chapter, and about beasts as well in those same verses, and also in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246. Since birds mean intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and factual knowledge, they also mean things that are the contrary, such as perverted rational concepts, falsities, and affections for falsity. The persuasions of the people before the Flood are described fully here, that is to say, they had within them affections for falsity, evil desires, pleasures, and bodily and earthly interests. All of these things are present in persuasions, though a person is not directly conscious of this, for he imagines that a false assumption, or persuasion of falsity, is some uncomplicated or quite general entity. He is much mistaken however, for the situation is altogether different. Every one of a person’s affections derives its existence and character from the things of his understanding and at the same time from those of his will. As a result the whole person as regards all things of his understanding and all those of his will is present in every one of his affections, indeed in the most individual or least parts of them.

[2] This has been made quite clear to me from many experiences. For example, to mention but one, a spirit in the next life is able to recognize a person’s character from merely one idea in that person’s thinking. Indeed angels have the ability from the Lord to know anyone’s character in an instant by merely looking at him; and they never make a mistake. From this it is clear that every one of a person’s ideas, every affection, indeed every least part of his affection, is an image and replica of himself. That is, it contains something, closely or remotely, of the whole of his understanding and of the whole of his will. This then is how the dreadful persuasions of the people before the Flood are described: They had within them affections for falsity, also affections for evil (which are evil desires), as well as pleasures, and last of all bodily and earthly interests. All of these are present within such persuasions; and not only within persuasions in general but also within the most individual or least parts of persuasions, in which bodily and earthly interests are predominant. If anyone knew how much one false assumption or one persuasion of falsity contained he would be horrified. It is in a way an image of hell. But if they are the product of innocence or of ignorance, those falsities in him are easily dispersed.

AC (Elliott) n. 804 804. The phrase ‘every man’ is added, which means that those things were present in that man. This is a concluding general statement which embraces what has gone before. Such concluding statements are frequently included.

AC (Elliott) n. 805 805. ‘Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life* in its nostrils’ means people belonging to the Most Ancient Church who had the breath of life* in their nostrils, that is, the life of love and of faith deriving from love. This is clear from what has been stated already in 96, 97. Life is what the most ancient people meant by ‘breath in the nostrils’ or breathing, which is the life of the body corresponding to spiritual things, just as the motion of the heart is the life of the body corresponding to celestial things. Here because the subject is the people before the Flood who from what they inherited from their forefathers had within them seed from a celestial origin, though that seed had been annihilated or suffocated, the statement ‘everything that had the breath of the spirit of life* in its nostrils’ is used.

[2] These words also conceal something quite deeply hidden, which has been dealt with already in 97. It is this: The member of the Most Ancient Church possessed internal breathing, and so possessed breathing that accorded with and was similar to the breathing of angels, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. The nature of that breathing varied according to every one of the states of the internal man; but it was altered in the process of time among their descendants down to this final generation of them in whom everything angelic perished. At that point they were no longer capable of breathing in company with the angelic heaven. This was the real reason for their annihilation, and why it is now said that ‘they breathed their last’ and that ‘they died in whom there was the breath of the spirit of life* in their nostrils’. After those times internal breathing came to an end, and with it communication with heaven, and consequently celestial perception; and external breathing took its place. And since communication with heaven came to an end in this way, members of the Ancient or new Church were no longer capable of being celestial men, as the most ancient people had been, but spiritual. These matters however will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.
* lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 806 806. ‘Everything that was on the dry land’ means the people in whom nothing of that kind of life existed any more, and ‘they died’ means that they breathed their last. This follows now from what has been said above. And because all the life that belongs to love and faith had been annihilated, ‘the dry land’ is referred to here. The dry land is where there is no water, that is, where nothing spiritual, let alone celestial, exists any more. Persuasion of falsity annihilates and so to speak suffocates everything spiritual and celestial, as anyone may recognize from much experience if he pays the matter any attention. Once people have adopted opinions, though utterly false, they cling to them so tenaciously that they will not even listen to anything to the contrary. That being so, they never allow themselves to be taught, even if the truth is placed before their very eyes. Still more is this the case when they reverence a false opinion because of some idea that is sacred. Such people spurn all truth, and what they do accept they pervert, and in so doing submerge in delusions. It is they who are meant here by ‘the dry land’ which has no water or grass on it, as in Ezekiel,

I will make the rivers dry land, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men, and I will make the land desolate and the fullness of it. Ezek. 30:12.

‘Making the rivers dry land’ stands for what is spiritual being no more. And in Jeremiah,

Your land has become dry land. Jer. 44:22.

‘Dry land’ stands for land made desolate and laid waste so that there is no longer any good or truth at all.

AC (Elliott) n. 807 807. Verse 23 And He wiped out every being* which was on the face** of the ground, from man to beasts, to creeping things, and to birds of the air;*** and they were wiped out from the earth; and Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark.

‘He wiped out every being’* means the desires which belong to self-love. ‘Which was on the face** of the ground’ means the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. ‘From man to beasts, to creeping things, and to birds of the air’*** means the nature of the evil of those people – ‘man’ the nature itself, ‘beasts’ desires, ‘creeping things’ pleasures, ‘birds of the air’*** derivative falsities. ‘And they were wiped out from the earth’ is the finish, namely that the Most Ancient Church breathed its last. ‘Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark’ means that those who constituted the new Church were preserved. ‘That which was with him in the ark’ means all things that belonged to that new Church.
* lit. every substance
** lit. over the faces
*** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 808 808. ‘He wiped out every being’* means the desires which belong to self-love. This is clear from what follows where they are described by means of representatives. ‘Substance’ has reference to things of the will, for it is from the will that all things with man originate, that is, come into being and remain in being. The will is man’s very being, or the person himself. The desires of the people before the Flood were those belonging to self-love. Actually there are two very general kinds of evil desires, the first kind being those of self-love, the second those of love of the world. The object of man’s desire being nothing other than what he loves, desires therefore belong to love. With the people before the Flood self-love reigned and consequently the desires belonging to it. In fact they so loved themselves that they imagined they were gods, and acknowledged no other god superior to themselves. And they persuaded themselves that this was so.
* lit. every substance

AC (Elliott) n. 809 809. ‘Which was on the face* of the ground’ means the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, dealt with already, as the Church and therefore as what belongs to the Church. Here, because it is said that [every] being** ‘on the face’ of the ground’ was wiped out, the meaning is that people belonging to the Most Ancient Church who were of that kind were wiped out. Here it is called ‘the ground’, but in verse 21 above ‘the earth’, the reason being that the Church is never referred to as such because of things of the understanding but because of those of the will. Factual knowledge and rational conviction that are part of faith in no way constitute the Church or the member of the Church, but charity which belongs to the will. Every essential element comes from the will. Nor therefore does anything doctrinal make the Church unless generally and specifically it has regard to charity, in which case charity becomes the end in view. The end in view determines the true character of doctrine, and whether or not it belongs to the Church. As with the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens love and charity alone constitute the Lord’s Church.
* lit. over the faces
** lit. every substance

AC (Elliott) n. 810 810. ‘From man to beasts, to creeping things, to birds of the air’* means the nature of the evil of those people – ‘man’ the nature itself, ‘beasts’ desires, ‘creeping things’ pleasures, ‘birds of the air’* derivative falsities. This is clear from the meaning of all of these, dealt with already. Consequently there is no need to pause over them here.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 811 811. ‘They were wiped out from the earth’ is the finish, namely that the Most Ancient Church breathed its last. ‘Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark’ means that those who constituted the new Church were preserved. And ‘that which was with him in the ark’ means all the things which belonged to that new Church. No further explanation of these statements is necessary- since they are self-evident.

AC (Elliott) n. 812 812. Verse 24 And the waters became more and more over the earth for a hundred and fifty days means the point at which the Most Ancient Church finally came to an end. ‘A hundred and fifty’ is that which is both a finishing point and a starting point.

AC (Elliott) n. 813 813. That these words mean the point at which the Most Ancient Church finally came to an end, and that ‘a hundred and fifty’ means that which is both a finishing point and a starting point, cannot be confirmed so easily from the Word as the more simple numbers can which occur frequently. Nevertheless the matter is clear from the number fifteen, dealt with above at verse 20. Fifteen means so few as to be hardly any. This meaning applies all the more to the number ‘a hundred and fifty’, which is the product of fifteen multiplied by ten, which means remnants. Multiplying fractions, such as a half, a quarter, or a tenth, produces smaller fractions still, till at length there is practically nothing, and then the end or finishing point has been reached. The same number occurs in Chapter 8:3 below where it is said that the waters retreated at the end of a hundred and fifty days. There the meaning is similar. Numbers in the Word have to be understood abstractedly – quite apart from the sense of the letter, for as stated and shown already, they have been included merely to produce the flow of historical events that belongs to the sense of the letter. For example, when seven occurs it means that which is holy – quite abstractedly from periods of time or measurements which it is normally used to quantify. Indeed angels, who perceive the internal sense of the Word, know nothing whatever about periods of time or measurements, let alone what a specific number denotes. Yet they understand the Word completely when it is being read by man. Consequently when a number occurs anywhere at all they cannot possibly have the idea of any numerical value, only of the real thing meant by the number. Likewise in the present context they understand by this number the point at which the Most Ancient Church finally came to an end, and in verse 3 of the next chapter the starting point of the Ancient or new Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 814 814. THE HELLS – continued
Here, the hells of people who have gone through life hating, desiring revenge, and being cruel.

The kinds of spirits who harbour deadly hatred and as a consequence breathe revenge, breathing nothing less than the murder of another, and are not satisfied until they have done it, are confined in a death-like hell very deep down where the dreadful stench is like that given off by dead bodies. And what is remarkable, the spirits there are so delighted with that stench that they prefer it to the most pleasant odours. Such is their dreadful nature and resulting delusions. This hell really does discharge such a stench; and when this hell is thrown open, which happens rarely and for only brief spaces of time, the stench welling up out of it is so powerful that spirits cannot stay in the vicinity. Certain genii, or rather avenging spirits, were sent from there so that I might know what they were like. They polluted the atmosphere with breath so poisonous and obnoxious that the spirits who were around me could not remain, and at the same time it had the effect on my stomach of making me vomit.

[2] They presented themselves in the form of a small child whose face was not unattractive, with a dagger concealed on him, and whom they sent to me carrying a dish in his hand. From this I was given to understand their intention (animus) to commit murder, either by stabbing or by poisoning, under a cloak of innocence. But they themselves were naked and had very black bodies. Soon however they were thrown back into their own death-like hell, and I was allowed to witness the manner in which they plunged down. They went away to the left on a level with my left temple, for a considerable distance without going downwards, and then they plunged down. First of all they went down through what looked like fire, then through fiery smoke like that of a furnace, and immediately afterwards below that furnace into more forward parts where there were many most gloomy caverns stretching downwards. On their way down they were all the time turning over in their minds and intending evil deeds, especially – and without cause – against the innocent. When they fell through the fire they cried out greatly. So that people may tell where they come from and what they are like, these spirits when sent out hold a kind of ring to which bronze-like spikes are attached. These they press with their hands and brandish about, which serves to indicate what they are like and that they are bound.

AC (Elliott) n. 815 815. As for those who delight in hating and consequently in getting revenge to such an extent that they are not satisfied with destroying the body, but also desire to destroy the soul, which however the Lord has redeemed, they are sent down by way of a most gloomy hollow towards the lowest parts of the earth, to a depth that accords with the degree of their hatred and consequent desire for revenge. They are there stricken with great terror and horror, and at the same time they are held in their desire for revenge; and as this increases they are sent down further still. Subsequently they are sent to a place beneath Gehenna where large and dreadful snakes with big fat bellies are seen, as vivid as if they were real, by whose bites they are afflicted, which they feel intensely. Such things are felt keenly by spirits, for such things answer to their lives in the way that bodily things answer to the lives of people who are dwelling in the body. During this time they live with dreadful delusions, which continue with them for ages, till at length they no longer know that they have been human beings. Their life, which they have acquired from such hatred and desire for revenge, can be eliminated in no other way.

AC (Elliott) n. 816 816. Since the genera of hatred and revenge are countless, and the species of them even more countless, and since the hell of one genus is never like that of another, and it is accordingly impossible to number every single one of them in order, let me therefore relate what I have seen. Someone came to me who looked like a nobleman. (Spirits have appeared to me as in broad daylight, and in light even brighter. They have done so however before my internal sight, since the Lord’s Divine mercy has allowed me into the presence of spirits.) On his first arrival that man pretended by beckoning movements to have many matters he wished to convey to me. He asked whether I was a Christian, and I replied that I was. He asserted that he was too, and asked to be alone with me, to tell me something that others were not to hear. But I replied that in the next life people are unable to be alone in the way people imagine they are on earth, and that many spirits were present. He drew closer however and went round behind my back, at which point I perceived that he was an assassin. While he was there I felt a kind of stab through the heart, and immediately after that in the brain, the kind of stab from which someone would easily die. But because I was protected by the Lord I feared nothing. What method he used I do not know. Thinking that I was dead he told others that he had just left someone whom he had killed in this manner – and indeed by a fatal blow from behind – and he said that he was skilled in a method by which the victim knew nothing before falling down dead, and one by which nobody would doubt his innocence. From this I was given to know that he had recently departed this earthly life where he had performed such villainy. The punishment of such people is horrifying. After they have undergone hellish tortures for ages their face at length becomes abhorrent and utterly grotesque, so that it is not a face any more but something that looks like dirty yellow rope. In this way they lose everything human, at which point everyone shudders at the sight of them. As a consequence they roam around like wild animals in gloomy places.

AC (Elliott) n. 817 817. Somebody from one of the vaults of hell over on the left hand side came and spoke to me. I was given to perceive that he belonged among villains. What he had perpetrated in the world was brought to light as follows: He was sent down quite some way into the lower earth, to a forward position a little to the left, and there he began to dig a grave as people do for the dead who are to be buried. This gave rise to a suspicion that during his lifetime he had been responsible for some act of murder. A bier draped with a black cloth appeared at that point. Soon afterwards someone rose out of the bier and came to me. He duly told me that he had died, and he assumed that that man had murdered him by poisoning, and that he had thought so around the time of his death though he did not know whether there were grounds for that suspicion. On hearing this that detestable spirit confessed that he had committed such a deed. Confession was followed by punishment. He was rolled around twice in the dark grave he had dug, and emerged looking black as an Egyptian mummy, in face and body. In that condition he was raised aloft and carried around before the eyes of spirits and angels, with the shout, ‘What a devil!’ He also turned cold, like those spirits in hell who are cold, and was sent to hell.

AC (Elliott) n. 818 818. Beneath the buttocks there is a frightful hell in which those there seem to strike one another with knives, aiming their knives at others’ breasts like avenging spirits. But every time they strike the knife is removed from them. They are people who have hated others so much that they were inflamed to kill them in a cruel manner, and as a consequence acquired such a dreadful character. That hell has been opened up for me, though only slightly on account of their dreadful acts of cruelty, so that I might witness the nature of deadly hatred.

AC (Elliott) n. 819 819. To the left on a level with the lower parts of the body, there is a sizeable stagnant pond, longer than it is broad. Around its nearest edge, monstrous serpents, like those that frequent stagnant ponds and whose breath is noxious, appear to those who are there. On the left bank, further away from there, appear those who eat human flesh, and also one another, gripping one another on the shoulder with their teeth. Further away still to the left big fish, enormous monsters, appear which swallow a human being and vomit him up again. Furthest away of all, that is, on the opposite side, appear faces very deformed, especially those of old women, so monstrous that they defy description, darting around as though they were mad. On the right bank are those who try to slaughter one another with instruments of cruelty. These instruments vary according to the callousness of their hearts. In the middle of the pond there is blackness everywhere, as though stagnated. I have frequently been amazed to see spirits brought to this pond, but I was told by some of those coming back from there that these were people who had cherished deep-seated hatred against the neighbour and that such hatred had erupted as often as it had been given the chance to do so. And in this they felt their greatest delight. Nothing had pleased them more than taking their neighbour to court, causing him to be punished, and, if there had been no legal penalties to deter them, putting him to death. These are the kinds of things that people’s hatred and cruelty are converted into after death; and the delusions that arise from these seem absolutely real to them.

AC (Elliott) n. 820 820. People who during their lifetime have performed robberies, and those involved in acts of piracy, prefer stinking reeking urine to any other kind of fluid. To themselves they also seem to dwell among such things, and also among foul-smelling cesspools. A certain robber approached me, gnashing his teeth. The sound of teeth gnashing was clearly heard as of someone [on earth], which was surprising seeing that those who are there have no teeth. He confessed that he would far rather live among urinous filth than beside clear waters, and that it was the stink of urine that pleased him. He said he would rather stay in the urinous runs than anywhere else, and make his home there.

AC (Elliott) n. 821 821. There are people who outwardly present an honest face and life so that nobody can suspect them of being anything other than honest. In every way they study carefully how, for the sake of preferment and of getting rich without loss of reputation, to preserve this appearance. Consequently they do not act openly, but by means of others deprive other people of their goods by cunning devices, not caring at all whether the families they deprive might die of hunger. If they could avoid being seen by the world, they themselves would carry it out without any conscience in the matter. In character therefore they are just the same as if they had actually done it themselves. Secretly they are robbers, and coupled to their variety of hatred are contempt, avarice, mercilessness, and deceit. Such people in the next life wish to be considered guiltless, saying that they have done nothing wrong because nothing had been discovered. And to show that they are blameless, they take off their clothes and stand naked as a way of attesting their innocence. But while they are being examined, what they are really like is perceived from the particular expressions they use and from the particular ideas comprising their thinking, though they do not realize this.

[2] Such people in the next life wish to murder without conscience any associates they light upon. They also have with them an axe and a mallet in their hand, and there seems to be another spirit present with them whom they strike as he lies stretched out, without however shedding any blood, for they are afraid of death. Nor can they cast those instruments out of their hands, however much they try with all their might to do so, to prevent its being seen that they are such, and to prevent the viciousness of their disposition becoming apparent before the eyes of spirits and angels. These spirits are at a middle distance beneath the feet, towards the front.

AC (Elliott) n. 822 822. There is a kind of hatred against the neighbour in which people take delight in hurting and attacking everybody. The more harm they can do to a person, the more pleasure it gives them. Very many belonging to the lowest class of society are such. There are also some not of that class who are like them in disposition (animus), but who are outwardly more respectable as a result of the civilized way of life in which they have been brought up, and on account of the fear of penalties set by the law. After death these people appear stripped to the waist, and with hair all unkempt. They go for one another by rushing forward and planting the palms of their hands on the other’s shoulders and bounding over his head, only to come back after a quick about-turn and pummel him with their fists. Those referred to as being more respectable act in a similar way, but they first of all acknowledge each other before going round the back and so pummeling with their fist. But when they meet face to face they acknowledge each other and again go round the back and strike with the fist. In this way they keep up appearances. They are seen some distance away to the left at a middle height.

AC (Elliott) n. 823 823. Whatever a person has done during his lifetime gradually reappears in the next life, and so does whatever he has thought. When enmity, hatred, and deceit reappear, so also do the persons against whom he has harboured hatred and plotted in secret. They are brought into his presence, and indeed in an instant. This kind of presence in the next life will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. The thoughts too which he has harboured against those persons are plainly visible, for a perception of all thoughts exists there. This leads to states that are wretched. Concealed hatred there bursts out into the open. With people who are evil all their wicked deeds and their thoughts visibly reappear in this manner. But the same does not happen to those who are good. All their states are states of good, friendship, and love, accompanied by supreme delight and happiness.

AC (Elliott) n. 824 824. 8

THE HELLS – continued
Here, the hells of people who have gone through life committing adultery and acts of unrestrained lust; also the hells of deceivers and witches.

Beneath the heel of the right foot there is a hell where there are people who have taken delight in being cruel and at the same time in committing adultery. They have felt in such behaviour the chief joy in their lives. It is a surprising fact that people who have been cruel during their lifetime have also been the worst adulterers. Such is the nature of the people who inhabit that hell. There they carry out acts of cruelty by unmentionable methods. By means of their delusions they make vessels for themselves resembling those in which herbs are crushed to bits, and also crushing instruments, with which they crush and torment whomever they can. They also so to speak make broad axes for themselves, like those used by executioners, and drilling tools as well, which they use mercilessly on one another, in addition to other dreadful acts of cruelty. In that place are some of the Jews who in the past treated gentiles in this cruel fashion. And today this hell is growing, chiefly from persons who belong to the so-called Christian world and who have found all the joy of life in committing adultery, and who too are for the most part cruel people. Sometimes their joy is converted into the stench of human excrement which is given off voluminously when this hell is opened up. I have smelt it in the world of spirits and have collapsed practically unconscious as a result of it. That foul stink of excrement by turns invades hell and then leaves off. It is the joy they take in committing adultery which is converted into so foul a stink. In the process of time, having spent a definite period of time with such things, they are left all alone, living in torment and becoming like hideous skeletons, though they are still living.

AC (Elliott) n. 825 825. On a level with the soles of the feet, in front and at quite some distance, is a hell called Gehenna where there are shameless women who have centred all their joy in committing adultery, and have imagined committing adultery to be not only permissible but also honourable. And under the pretence of what is honourable they have seduced guiltless and innocent people into such practices. In that place a fiery glow appears like that which normally radiates from the sky when there is a great fire. It is a fierce heat too, which I have been allowed to feel through the warmth issuing from it on to my face. And it gives off a stench like that given off by burning bones and hair. This hell is sometimes changed into dreadful serpents that bite them, at which point they long to die, but cannot. Certain women released from that place came to me and talked of the fierce heat there. They said that when they are allowed to approach any community of good spirits that heat is converted into extreme cold, in which case they experience the alternating extremes of cold and heat, and in this way are tortured mercilessly. Nevertheless they have intervening periods in which they are obsessed with the passions of their fiery lust. But their states undergo change, as has been mentioned.

AC (Elliott) n. 826 826. There were certain members of both sexes from the so-called Christian world who during their lifetime had imagined adultery to be not only permissible but also sacred. In so doing they upheld collective marriages, as they irreverently termed them, under a pretence of holiness. I saw that they were sent to Gehenna, but when they got there a change took place. The fiery glow of Gehenna, which is decidedly red, turned decidedly white on their arrival, and I perceived that they did not fit in there. Consequently that unmentionable bunch was removed from that place and taken down to a quarter at the back. I was told that they had gone into another world where they would be immersed in stagnant waters, and from there on into a new Gehenna that had been provided for them. I heard in this Gehenna something like a hissing which was indescribable. But the hissing or hum of Gehenna was duller than that of those people who had defiled holiness by acts of adultery.

AC (Elliott) n. 827 827. Those who beguile by means of conjugial love and love towards small children – behaving in such a way that a husband has no reason to suspect that his guests are anything else but clean-minded, stainless, and friendly, and so under this and many other pretences commit adultery more safely – are in a hell beneath the buttocks in foulest excrement. There they experience vastation until they are no more than bones, for they are among the deceitful. Such individuals do not even know what conscience is. I have spoken to them and they have been amazed that anyone should have a conscience and that people say that acts of adultery are contrary to conscience. They have been told that it is as impossible for such conscienceless adulterers to enter heaven as it is for a fish to survive in the air or a bird above the air. For when merely approaching heaven they feel as though they are being choked, and their kind of delight is converted into a dreadful stench. They are then driven inevitably down into hell and at length become just like bones with little life, for when they lose that kind of life which they have acquired to themselves, no more than a mere trace of truly human life remains.

AC (Elliott) n. 828 828. Men who desire above all else to deflower virgins, that is, who delight most of all to take virgins and rob them of their virginity, without any intention of marrying them and having a family, and who once they have robbed them of the flower of their virginity afterwards abandon them, regard them as nauseating, and make prostitutes of them, [undergo very severe punishment in the next life].* Men who have pursued this kind of life undergo that punishment because they have behaved in a way contrary to natural, spiritual, and celestial order – contrary not only to conjugial love, which in heaven is upheld as most holy, but also to the innocence they injure and destroy by leading innocent young women who could be endowed with conjugial love into a life of prostitution. It is well known that it is the first flower of love which leads virgins into chaste conjugial love and joins together the minds of married partners. And because the holiness of heaven is based on conjugial love and on innocence, and men of this kind are inwardly murderers, they undergo very severe punishment in the next life. It seems to them as though they are seated on a horse that is frenzied, which tosses them up in the air so that they are thrown from the horse and their life seemingly put in peril, such is the terror struck into them. After that it appears to them as though they are under the belly of the frenzied horse, and then it seems to them as though they pass by way of the horse’s hindquarters into its belly. At this point it suddenly seems to them as if they are inside the belly of a filthy prostitute. The prostitute changes into a large dragon, and there they stay enveloped in torment. This punishment is repeated many times, over hundreds and thousands of years, until they are filled with horror for such desires. Concerning their offspring I have been told that these are worse than other people’s children, for they derive something of a like heredity from their fathers. This also is why infants are rarely born from the sexual union of such persons, and those who are do not live very long in this world.
* The Latin may be incomplete at this point.

AC (Elliott) n. 829 829. People whose thoughts during their lifetime have consisted of unrestrained lust and who have twisted all that others say, even things that are holy, into such lust – doing so even when mature and elderly, when no natural lust is present to incite them – continue to think and talk in that manner in the next life. And because their thoughts in that life are communicated, and sometimes end up as lewd representations among other spirits, consequently into things that are offensive, their punishment is this: In the presence of the spirits they have offended they are thrown to the ground in a horizontal position, and are rolled over and over rapidly from left to right like a drum, then back in a different direction, and in yet another. Naked in the presence of all, or half-naked, depending on the nature of their unrestrained lust, they are at the same time filled with shame. Then they are spun around by the head and feet crossways like a spindle. Resistance is set up and simultaneously pain, for two forces are at work, the first going round one way and the second in reverse, producing a painful ripping apart. When all this is finished the offender is given the opportunity to sneak away from the gaze of the spirits, and a sense of shame is instilled into him. Nevertheless there are those who test him to see whether he still persists in such ways. But as long as his state is one of shame and pain he is on his guard. It may thus seem to him that he is hidden, but they know his whereabouts. This punishment was seen to take place in front, some distance away.

[2] There are also boys, adolescents, and young men who, because of the senseless folly and the sexual urge of that time of life, have adopted unspeakable notions to the effect that wives, especially young and attractive ones, were intended not for their husbands but for themselves and others like them, with the husbands remaining purely heads of the household and those who bring up the children. They are recognized also in the next life from the boyish sound of their speech. They are at the back there, a fair way up. Those among them who have confirmed themselves in those notions, and in a life in keeping with the same, are pitiably rough-handled in the next life by having their joints dislocated and then put back in place – that is, twisted together and then twisted back – by spirits who have the skill to delude others into thinking that they are in the body, and at the same time to induce the sensation of pain. By means of these rebounding movements, along with the simultaneous resistance offered to them, they are so severely battered that they seem to themselves to have disintegrated into tiny particles with the immense pain of it all. And this is repeated many times until they have been struck through with horror for such notions about the way to live and so refrain from thinking in this way.

AC (Elliott) n. 830 830. The hell of those who mislead people by cunning deception – putting on a smile and a pleasant tone of voice while concealing venomous deceit within, and in this way getting hold of people with the intent of destroying them – is more horrible than anybody else’s, more horrible in fact than the murderers’ hell. To themselves they seem to be living among snakes; and the more treacherous their deceits have been, the more dreadful and venomous the snakes appear to be, and the more there are which surround and torment them. Nor do they know of them as anything other than snakes, for the pains and agony they endure are just like those caused by snakes. Few will perhaps believe this, but it is nevertheless the truth. These are people who premeditate the deceits they practise and feel the joy of life in doing so. Punishments for deceivers are various, depending on the nature of the deceit. In general they are not tolerated in communities but are expelled from them, for whatever a spirit is thinking those around him know and perceive in an instant. They accordingly know and perceive whether there is any deceit in him, and the nature of it. This is why deceivers are ultimately cast out of communities and dwell all alone. Their face at such times has a broad look, stretched to a width four or five times that of other people’s faces, with a broad whitish hat made of straw. As they dwell there in their agony they are semblances of death. There are others who by nature are deceivers, and so act less premeditatedly and less surreptitiously behind a false countenance. They are recognized immediately and their thinking is perceived clearly. They even boast about it as though they wished to seem clever. Theirs is not the same kind of hell. But more about deceivers will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be presented later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 831 831. There are women who have lived to satisfy their own inclinations. They have studied solely themselves and the world, and have focused the whole of life and its enjoyment in being outwardly respectable. Consequently in social circles they have been esteemed above other women. By the way they have behaved and conducted themselves they have acquired the ability to worm their way, by being outwardly respectable, into other people’s desires and pleasures. They have employed a pretence to being honourable, but their aim has been to gain control over others. As a result their lives have become those of sham and deceit. Like other people they have gone to Church, but with no other end in view than giving the appearance of being honourable and devout. Furthermore they have been devoid of conscience, strongly inclined to behaving disgracefully and committing adultery insofar as it was possible to do so without being found out. Such women go on thinking in the same way in the next life. They do not know what conscience is and they laugh at people who mention it. They encroach upon whatever affections other people may have through their pretence of honourableness, devoutness, mercy, and innocence, which with them are instruments for deception. And whenever external restraints are removed from them, they rush into the most abominable and disgusting practices.

[2] These are women who in the next life become sorceresses or witches. Some of them are those called sirens. In that life they acquire tricks unknown in the world. They are like sponges that soak up unmentionable tricks, and are so clever that they quickly put them into practice. The tricks which they learn in that world and are unknown in this include their ability to speak as though they are somewhere else, so that their voice is heard as if coming from good spirits in that other place. They have the ability to appear to be with many people simultaneously, and in this way convince others that they can appear to be present everywhere. They have the ability to speak as if they were various persons simultaneously, and in various places simultaneously. They have the ability to turn aside what is flowing in from good spirits, even what is flowing in from angelic spirits, and to change that instantly and in different ways into what suits themselves. They have the ability to impersonate somebody else by means of his ideas which they adopt and give shape to. They can inspire an affection for themselves into somebody else by worming their way into the very state of the other person’s affections. They can steal away suddenly out of sight, without being noticed. They can exhibit before the eyes of spirits a bright flame around their head, which is an angelic sign, doing so in the presence of many. They can feign innocence in various ways, even by exhibiting infants whom they are caressing. They can also incite others whom they hate to kill them – for they know that they cannot die – and afterwards publicly accuse them of being murderers.

[3] They have called forth from my memory whatever evil I have thought or committed, doing so in a most expert fashion. When I was asleep they have spoken to others just as if the words came from myself, with the result that spirits were convinced of it, and indeed things that were false and disgusting. And there are many other practices in addition to these. The nature of these women is so persuasive that they leave one with no feeling of doubt. This is why their ideas are not communicated as those of other spirits are. And their eyes are, so to speak, like those of a snake, having a vision of and noting things in every direction at once. These witches or sirens are punished severely. Some are in Gehenna; some in a kind of court among snakes; some are punished by being ripped apart, and by various beatings, accompanied by very great pain and torment. In the process of time they are separated from one another and come to look like skeletons from head to toe. A continuation of this subject follows at the end of the chapter.

GENESIS 8
1 And God remembered Noah, and every wild animal, and every beast that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

2 And the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were stopped up, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

3 And the waters receded from off the earth, going back and forth, and the waters abated at the end of a hundred and fifty days.

4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters were going down and abating until the tenth month; and in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

6 And it happened at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

7 And he sent out a raven, and it went out going back and forth until the waters dried up from over the earth.

8 And he sent out a dove from himself to see whether the waters had abated from over the face* of the ground.

9 And the dove found no rest for the sole of its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were over the face* of the whole earth. And he put out his hand, and took hold of it, and brought it in to himself into the ark.

10 And he waited yet another seven days, and then proceeded to send out the dove from the ark.

11 And the dove came back to him at evening time; and behold, in its mouth an olive leaf plucked off. And Noah knew that the waters had abated from over the earth.

12 And he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not come back to him any more.

13 And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from over the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out, and behold, the face* of the ground was dry.

14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 And God spoke to Noah, saying,

16 Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons wives with you.

17 Every wild animal of all flesh that is with you – birds, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth – bring out with you, and let them spread out into the earth and be fruitful, and multiply over the earth.

18 And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him.

19 Every wild animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything creeping over the earth – according to their families they went out of the ark.

20 And Noah built an altar to Jehovah, and took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And Jehovah smelled the odour of rest, and Jehovah said in His heart, I will curse the ground no more on account of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood. And I will no more strike every living thing, as I have done.

22 During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 832 832. CONTENTS

Next in the line of subjects concerns the member of the new Church who is called Noah, and in fact his state following temptation up to the point of his regeneration, and beyond.

AC (Elliott) n. 833 833. The first state following temptation is his fluctuation between truth and falsity until truths start to appear, verses 1-5.

AC (Elliott) n. 834 834. The second state divides into three. First, when truths of faith do not as yet exist; then, when truths of faith together with charity do exist; and after that, when goods that arise from charity show themselves, verses 6-14.

AC (Elliott) n. 835 835. The third state is when he starts to act and think from charity, which is the first state of a regenerate person, verses 15-19.

AC (Elliott) n. 836 836. The fourth state is when he does act and think from charity, which is the second state of a regenerate person, verses 20, 21.

AC (Elliott) n. 837 837. Finally, this new Church raised up in place of the previous one is described, verses 21, 22.

AC (Elliott) n. 838 838. THE INTERNAL SENSE
In the two previous chapters the subject was the new Church called Noah, that is, the individual constituting that Church. First of all they dealt with his preparation for receiving faith, and by way of faith charity. Then they dealt with his temptation, and after that with the way he was protected when the Most Ancient Church was dying out. In the present chapter the subject is his state following temptation and the actual order in which this was effected. At the same time the subject is the order in which this is effected in all who are to be regenerated. For the Word of the Lord is such that when it deals with one it is dealing with each and all, the only difference being according to the disposition of each one. This is the universal sense of the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 839 839. Verse 1 And God remembered Noah, and every wild animal, and every beast that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

‘God remembered’ means the end of temptation and the start of renewal. ‘Noah’, as previously, means the member of the Ancient Church. ‘Every wild animal and every beast that was with him in the ark’ means all things that resided with him. And God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided’ means the arrangement of all things into their proper order.

AC (Elliott) n. 840 840. That ‘and God remembered’ means the end of temptation and the start of renewal is clear from what comes before and after this. ‘God remembered’ in particular means His being merciful. His remembering is mercy, and this is attributed to Him especially when temptation is past because at that time new light is shining. As long as temptation lasts, a person assumes that the Lord is not present, for he is being harassed by evil genii, so harassed in fact that sometimes he has so great a feeling of hopelessness as scarcely to believe in the existence of any God at all. Yet at such times the Lord is more present than that person can possibly believe. But once temptation subsides he receives comfort, and for the first time believes that the Lord is present. Consequently, because He appears to do so, ‘God’s remembering’ mentioned here means the end of temptation and the start of renewal. God, and not Jehovah, is said to have remembered because the person’s state is still that which comes before regeneration. But once he has been regenerated the name Jehovah is used, as in verses 20, 21, at the end of this chapter. The reason ‘God’ is used here is that faith has not yet been joined to charity. A person is for the first time said to be regenerate when he acts from charity. It is in charity that Jehovah is present, and not so much in faith before this has been joined to charity. In the next life charity constitutes a person’s very being (esse) and life. Jehovah is Being (Esse) and Life itself, and this is why before a person has this being and life, not Jehovah but God is said to reside with him.

AC (Elliott) n. 841 841. ‘Noah’, as previously, means the member of the Ancient Church, and ‘every wild animal and every beast that was with him in the ark’ means all things that resided with him. This becomes clear from what has been stated already concerning Noah and concerning the meaning of ‘wild animal’ and ‘beast’. In the Word ‘wild animal’ takes on a two-fold sense; it stands for things with a person that are alive and for things that are dead. The reason why it stands for those that are alive is that this expression in Hebrew means a living thing. But because the most ancient people in their humility acknowledged that they themselves were but wild animals, things with a person that are dead were therefore meant as well by the same expression. Here ‘wild animal’ means both what is alive and what is dead in their entirety, as is usually the case with someone after temptation. Things that are alive and those that are dead – that is, those that are the Lord’s and those that are the person’s own – seem so intermingled that at that time the person scarcely knows what truth and good are. At that time however the Lord is re-arranging and restoring all things to order, as becomes clear from what follows. For the fact that ‘wild animal’ means things that are alive with man, see the previous chapter, 7:14, and also verses 17 and 19 of the present chapter. And from what has been shown several times already about wild animals and beasts, for example in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, it is clear that it also means the things with a person that are dead.

AC (Elliott) n. 842 842. ‘And God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided’ means the arrangement of all things into their proper order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘wind’ in the Word. All spirits, both good and evil, are compared and likened to the wind, and are even called winds. And in the original language the same word is used for spirits as for winds. In temptations, meant here by ‘the waters that subsided’, as shown already, evil spirits who deluge are present. With their delusions they flow in wave upon wave and activate kindred delusions residing with a person. When these spirits, or delusions, are dispersed the Word speaks of it being done by means of ‘a wind’, and in fact by ‘an east wind’.

[2] Once the swell or waters of temptation have abated, the condition of someone undergoing temptation is similar to that of mankind generally, as I have been given to know from considerable experience. That is to say, evil spirits in the world of spirits sometimes group together in squadrons and in this way create disturbances. But they are broken up by other squadrons of spirits pouring out mostly from a position to the right, from the eastern quarter therefore, who strike so much fear and terror into them that they think only of taking flight. At that point those who have grouped themselves together are scattered in all directions, and in this way the communities of spirits drawn together for evil purposes are dissolved. The squadrons of spirits who disperse them in this fashion are called ‘the East Wind’. In addition to this there are countless other ways of scattering them, and these too are ‘east winds’, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on. When evil spirits have been dispersed in this fashion a kind of calm or silence follows the state of disturbance. A similar situation exists with the person undergoing temptation. While undergoing temptation he is amid the throng of such spirits; but when they have been driven away or dispersed, a kind of calm descends which is the start to an arranging of all things into order.

[3] Before anything is restored to order it is very common for everything to be reduced first of all to a state of confusion resembling chaos so that things that are not compatible may be separated from one another. And once these have been separated the Lord arranges them into order. Phenomena comparable to this take place in nature. There too every single thing is first reduced to a state of confusion before being put in its proper place. Unless atmospheric conditions included strong winds to disperse alien substances, the air could not possibly be cleared, and harmful toxic substances would accumulate in it. The same applies to the human body. Unless all things in the bloodstream, those that are alien as well as those that are congenial, were flowing along together unceasingly and repeatedly into the same heart where they are mixed together, the vital fluids would be in danger of clotting and each constituent could not possibly be precisely disposed to perform its proper function. The same also applies to a person’s regeneration.

[4] ‘The wind’, in particular ‘the East Wind’, means nothing other than the dispersion of falsities and evils, or what amounts to the same, of evil spirits and genii, and after that an arranging into order. This becomes clear from what is said in the Word, as in Isaiah,

You will disperse them, and the wind will carry them away, and the tempest will scatter them. And you will rejoice in Jehovah, in the Holy One of Israel you will glory. Isa. 41:16.

Here dispersing is compared to ‘the wind’ and scattering to ‘the tempest’ – a dispersing and scattering of evils – at which time regenerate persons ‘will rejoice in Jehovah’. In David,

Behold, the kings assembled themselves, they went over together. They saw, and so they were astounded, thrown into confusion, and rushed about. Terror took hold of them there, pain like that of a woman in labour. By the East Wind You will shatter [the ships of Tarshish]. Ps. 48:4-7.

This describes the terror and confusion caused by ‘the East Wind’, a description based on occurrences in the world of spirits, for the internal sense of the Word embodies those occurrences.

[5] In Jeremiah,

[My people] will make their land an astonishment. Like the East Wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will look them in the neck and not in the face* on the day of their calamity. Jer. 18:16, 17.

Here similarly ‘the East Wind’ stands for the dispersion of falsities. Things of a similar nature are represented by the east wind that dried up the Sea Suph so that the children of Israel could go across, referred to in Exodus as follows,

Jehovah drove the Sea Suph back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. Exod. 14:21.

Matters of a similar nature were represented by ‘the waters of the Sea Suph’ as are meant here by ‘the waters of the flood’. This is clear from the fact that the Egyptians, who represented the evil, were overwhelmed, while the children of Israel, who represented the regenerate, as Noah does here, went across. ‘The Sea Suph’, like ‘the flood’, means damnation and also temptation. ‘The East Wind’ accordingly means the dispersion of the waters, that is, of the evils of damnation or of temptation. It is clear also from the Song of Moses after they had gone across, Exod. 15:1-19, and from what is said in Isaiah,

Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and will shake His hand over the River with the might of His wind, and He will smite it into seven channels, and make it a road for shoes. Then there will be a highway for the remnant of His people, who will remain from Asshur, as there was for Israel when they came up out of the land of Egypt. Isa. 11:15, 16.

Here ‘a highway for the remnant of the people who will remain from Asshur’ stands for arrangement into order.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 843 843. Verse 2 And the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were stopped up, and the rain from heaven was restrained means that temptation came to an end. ‘The fountains of the deep’ are evils present in the will, ‘the floodgates of heaven’ falsities present in the understanding, ‘rain’ temptation itself in general.

AC (Elliott) n. 844 844. From this verse down to verse 6 the subject is the first state of the member of this Church following temptation. The present verse means the end of temptation. Previously the subject has been his temptation as regards things of the will, and also his temptation as regards those of the understanding. The end of temptation as regards things of the will is meant by ‘the fountains of the deep were stopped’, and as regards those of the understanding by ‘the floodgates of heaven’. That this is the meaning of these phrases has been stated and shown already at Chapter 7:11, and that ‘rain’ means temptation itself at 7:12. Consequently there is no need to pause any longer to confirm these matters.

AC (Elliott) n. 845 845. The reason ‘the fountains of the deep’ means temptation as regards things of the will, and ‘the floodgates of heaven’ means temptation as regards those of the understanding, is that a person’s will is what hell acts upon and not so much upon his understanding unless it has been immersed in evil desires that constitute the will. Evils within the will are what condemn a person and thrust him down to hell, and not so much falsities unless these are coupled with evils, in which case one follows the other. This becomes clear from the fact that so many people who are under the influence of falsities are nevertheless saved, as is the case with very many of the gentiles who have led lives of natural charity and of mercy, as well as Christians who have believed in simplicity of heart. Their very ignorance and simplicity excuse them, for innocence can reside within them.

[2] The situation is different with those who have confirmed themselves in falsities and have consequently pursued such a life of falsity that they reject and spurn all truth. Such a life must first of all be laid waste before any truth and so any good can be implanted. The situation is worse however with people who have so confirmed themselves in falsities resulting from evil desires that falsities and evil desires compose one life. These are the people who plunge into hell. This is the reason why temptation as regards things of the will is meant by ‘the fountains of the deep’, which are the hells, and temptation as regards those of the understanding by ‘the floodgates of heaven’, which are the clouds from which the rain falls.

AC (Elliott) n. 846 846. Verse 3 And the waters receded from off the earth, going back and forth, and the waters abated at the end of a hundred and fifty days.

‘The waters receded from off the earth, going back and forth’ means fluctuations between truth and falsity. ‘The waters abated at the end of a hundred and fifty days’ means that temptations came to an end. ‘A hundred and fifty days’ means here, as previously, the finishing point.

AC (Elliott) n. 847 847. That ‘the waters receded from off the earth, going back and forth’ means fluctuations between truth and falsity is clear from what has been stated, namely about ‘the waters of the flood’ or deluges, in reference to Noah, meaning temptations. And because the subject here is the first state following temptation, ‘the waters receded, going back and forth’ can mean nothing else than fluctuation between truths and falsities. But the nature of this fluctuation cannot be known unless one knows what temptation is, for the nature of a temptation determines that of the fluctuation following temptation. When temptation is celestial the fluctuation is between good and evil; when temptation is spiritual it is between truth and falsity; and when temptation is natural the fluctuation is between the things that belong to evil desires and things which are their opposite.

[2] The types of temptation are numerous. In general they are celestial, spiritual, and natural, which must not in any way be confused with one another. Celestial temptations can exist only with people who are moved by love to the Lord; spiritual temptations only with those who are moved by charity towards the neighbour; while natural temptations are utterly different again. Indeed the latter are not temptations at all but merely anxious cares resulting from attacks on people’s natural loves caused by misfortune, sickness, and abnormal condition of the blood and fluids in the body. These few considerations make it to some extent possible to know what temptation is, that is to say, the distress and anxiety caused by things that clash with a person’s loves. With people moved by love to the Lord, whatever attacks that love to the Lord produces inmost torment. This is celestial temptation. With those moved by love towards the neighbour, which is charity, whatever attacks this love leads to a tortured conscience. This is spiritual temptation.

[3] But in the case of people who are natural, those experiences which they so often call temptations, and the pricks of conscience, are not really temptations at all but merely anxious cares resulting from attacks on their loves – for example, when they foresee and feel that they are being deprived of honour, the good things of this world, reputation, pleasures, physical powers, and so on. Nevertheless these so-called temptations do normally achieve some good. Temptations are also experienced by people who are moved by natural charity, and so by all manner of heretics, by gentiles, and by idolaters. They are caused by the things which go against the way of life which their faith demands and which they hold dear. These however are anxious cares, which are mere imitations of spiritual temptations.

AC (Elliott) n. 848 848. When temptations have come to an end there is so to speak fluctuation. And if the temptations are spiritual it is fluctuation between truth and falsity, as also becomes quite clear from the fact that temptation is the starting point to regeneration. The purpose of all regeneration therefore is that a person may receive new life, or rather that he may receive life, and from not being a man may become one, that is, from being a dead man may become one who is alive. When therefore his former life, which is purely animal, is destroyed by means of temptations he cannot after temptations do other than fluctuate between truth and falsity. Truth belongs to the new life, falsity to the old. Unless the former life is destroyed and this fluctuation takes place, spiritual seed can never be implanted because there is no ground for it.

[2] Once that former life has been destroyed however, and this kind of fluctuation is taking place, a person knows almost nothing at all of what truth and good are. Indeed he scarcely knows of the existence of any such thing as truth. Take, for example, the situation in which a person considers whether he is able to perform from the proprium any good deeds that stem from charity, that is, good works, as people call them, and whether merit rests in his proprium. He is in that case in such obscurity and darkness that when told that nobody is able to do anything good from himself, that is, from his proprium, still less merit anything, and that all good comes from the Lord and all merit is the Lord’s, it must inevitably astonish him. The same applies to all other matters of faith. Nevertheless that obscurity or darkness in which he dwells is slowly and gradually lightened.

[3] Regeneration is exactly like when a person is born as an infant. At this point he is living in the greatest obscurity, knowing virtually nothing. This being so, general ideas of things flow in first, which gradually become more definite as specific ideas are introduced into the general, and further still as yet more detailed ideas are introduced into the specific. Detailed ideas light up the general so that he knows not merely of their existence but also the nature of them. A similar process takes place with everyone emerging from spiritual temptation; and the state is similar in the case of people in the next life who have been under the influence of falsities and who are now being vastated. This state is called fluctuation and is described here as ‘the waters receding, going back and forth’.

AC (Elliott) n. 849 849. ‘The waters abated at the end of a hundred and fifty days’ means that temptations came to an end. This clearly follows from what has been said above. That ‘a hundred and fifty days’ means the finishing point is clear from what has been stated concerning the same number at Chapter 7:24. So here that same number means the point at which fluctuation ends and new life starts.

AC (Elliott) n. 850 850. Verse 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

‘The ark rested’ means regeneration. ‘The seventh month’ means that which is holy. ‘The seventeenth day of the month’ means that which is new. ‘The mountains of Ararat’ means light.

AC (Elliott) n. 851 851. That ‘the ark rested’ means regeneration becomes clear from the fact that ‘the ark’ means the member of this Church, and all that was in the ark means all that resided with that member, as shown extensively already. When therefore the ark is said ‘to rest’ it means that this member was being regenerated. The train of thought in the sense of the letter does indeed seem to imply that ‘the ark’s resting’ means that the fluctuations following temptation, dealt with in the previous verse, have come to an end. But fluctuations, which are doubt and haziness concerning truths and goods, do not in that manner come to an end but persist for a long time, as will also be clear later on. From this it is clear that the continuity of thought in the internal sense is different. The substance of that thought, being arcana, can be revealed here, namely this: After he has undergone temptations the spiritual man becomes the Lord’s ‘rest’ in the same way as the celestial man does. In the same way also he becomes ‘the seventh’, not however the seventh day, as the celestial man does, but ‘the seventh month’. For details concerning the celestial man’s being the Lord’s rest or sabbath, and the seventh day, see 84-88. But as a celestial man and a spiritual man are different from each other the celestial man’s rest is expressed in the original language by a word meaning the sabbath, whereas the spiritual man’s rest is expressed by a different word, from which the name Noah derives which specifically means rest.

AC (Elliott) n. 852 852. ‘The seventh month’ means that which is holy. This is abundantly clear from what has been shown already in 84-87, 395, 716. This holiness corresponds here to what was said at Chapter 2:3 about the celestial man, that ‘the seventh day was made holy because God rested on that day’.

AC (Elliott) n. 853 853. ‘The seventeenth day’ means that which is new. This is clear from what has been stated and shown concerning that same number at Chapter 7:11, in 755, where it means a beginning. Every beginning is something new.

AC (Elliott) n. 854 854. ‘The mountains of Ararat’ means light.* This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘a mountain’ as the good that stems from love and charity, 795, and from the meaning of ‘Ararat’, which is light, indeed the light of someone who has been regenerated. The new light, or dawn, of a regenerate person in no way flows from cognitions of the truths of faith but from charity; for the truths of faith are like rays of light, and love or charity like the flame. The light in someone who is being regenerated derives not from the truths of faith but from charity. The truths of faith themselves are rays of light flowing from charity. It is clear therefore that ‘the mountains of Ararat’ means that kind of light. This is the first light following temptation, and being the first it is obscure and is called lumen, not lux.
* In this paragraph the Latin word lumen meaning ‘light’ denotes an inferior kind of light to that meant by lux.

AC (Elliott) n. 855 855. From these considerations it now becomes clear what the contents of this verse mean in the internal sense, namely, that a spiritual man is the holy rest which results from new light in the understanding, a light which shines from charity. These matters are perceived by angels with such remarkable variety, and in a sequence so delightful, that if merely one such idea existed with man thousands upon thousands in mounting series would enter in and stir his affection, and such indeed as would defy description. Such is the Word of the Lord throughout the internal sense, even when the sense of the letter looks like crude history, which is the case with the meaning of the statement that the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

AC (Elliott) n. 856 856. Verse 5 And the waters were going down and abating until the tenth month; in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

‘The waters were going down and abating’ means that falsities started to be dispersed. ‘The tenth month’ means the truths that are present within remnants. ‘On the first of the month the tops of the mountains appeared’ means the truths of faith which at that point began to be seen.

AC (Elliott) n. 857 857. That ‘the waters were going down and abating’ means that falsities started to be dispersed is clear from the actual words themselves and from what has been stated just above, at verse 3, where it is said that ‘the waters receded, going back and forth’, whereas in this verse it is said that ‘the waters were going down and abating’. The latter as well as the former means fluctuations between truth and falsity, though the present statement means that those fluctuations were becoming less pronounced. As has been stated, during the fluctuations that follow temptation a person does not know what truth is, but as the movements gradually come to an end so the light of truth appears. The reason for this is that as long as a person’s state is such, the internal man cannot function, that is, the Lord cannot function by way of the internal into the external. The internal contains remnants, which are affections for good and for truth deriving from it, which have been dealt with already. The external contains evil desires, and falsities deriving from these. As long as these external things have not been subdued and done away with, no road is open for goods and truths to pass from the internal, that is, from the Lord by way of the internal.

[2] A further purpose of temptations therefore is that the external side of a person may be subdued and so made subservient to the internal. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that as soon as a person’s loves are assaulted and crushed, as they are in times of misfortune, sickness, and mental illness, his evil desires start to subside. And as they subside he begins to talk of more devout things. But as soon as he goes back to his previous state, his external man takes control again and he gives scarcely any thought to such matters. It is similar in the final hour of death when bodily things start to fade. From these considerations anyone may see what the internal man is and what the external man, also what remnants are, and how too the desires and pleasures that belong to the external man hinder the Lord’s functioning by way of the internal man. From this also anyone may discern what temptations, that is, the inward pains termed the pricks of conscience, accomplish; they take place so that the external man may become subservient to the internal. The external man is made subservient solely to ensure that affections for good and truth are not hindered, halted, and stifled by evil desires and by falsities deriving from them. The subsidence of evil desires and falsities is here described by ‘the waters going down and abating’.

AC (Elliott) n. 858 858. ‘The tenth month’ means the truths that are present within remnants. This is clear from the meaning of ‘ten’ as remnants, 576, and also from what has been stated just above about remnants residing with the internal man.

AC (Elliott) n. 859 859. ‘On the first of the month the tops of the mountains appeared’ means the truths of faith which at that point start to become visible. This is clear from the meaning of ‘mountains’ as goods that stem from love and charity, 795. These mountain-tops start to be seen when a person is being regenerated and is being given a conscience, and through conscience charity. Anyone is utterly mistaken who supposes that he sees the tops of the mountains, which are the truths of faith, from any other vantage point than the goods that stem from love and charity. Without these, Jews and untaught gentiles can see just the same. ‘The tops of the mountains’ are the first rays of light to appear.

AC (Elliott) n. 860 860. From these considerations it also becomes clear that all regeneration advances from evening to morning, as is mentioned six times in Genesis 1 where the regeneration of man is the subject. Here the evening is described in verses 2, 3, the morning in verses 4, 5. The present verse describes the first ray of light or the morning of this state as ‘the tops of the mountains appearing’.

AC (Elliott) n. 861 861. Verse 6 And it happened at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. ‘It happened at the end of forty days means the duration of the former state, and the beginning of the one that followed. ‘Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made’ means a further state when the truths of faith appeared to him.

AC (Elliott) n. 862 862. That ‘it happened at the end of forty days’ means the duration of the former state, and the beginning of the one that followed, is clear from the meaning of ‘forty’, see 730, where, the subject being temptation, the phrase ‘forty days and forty nights’ was used, which meant the duration of temptation. Here, since the subject is the state following temptation, ‘forty days’ is mentioned but not forty nights. The reason is that charity now starts to appear, which in the Word is compared to the day and is called the day. Faith however which precedes but has not yet been so joined to charity is compared to the night and is called the night, as in Chapter 1:16, and elsewhere in the Word. Faith is also called ‘the night’ in the Word because it receives its light from charity, just as the moon does from the sun. Faith is therefore also compared to the moon and is called the moon; and love or charity is compared to the sun and is called the sun. ‘Forty days’, or the duration of time meant by them, refers both to the things that precede and to those that follow; hence the statement ‘at the end of forty days’, which accordingly means both the duration of the previous state, and the beginning of the one being described now. This then begins the description of the second state following temptation of the member of this Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 863 863. ‘Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made means a further state when the truths of faith appeared to him. This becomes clear from the final words of the previous verse, which state that ‘the tops of the mountains appeared’. It becomes clear from the meaning of those words, and also from the meaning of ‘a window’, dealt with already in 655, as that which constitutes the understanding part of the mind, or what consequently amounts to the same, the truth of faith. It becomes clear too from the fact that this is the first glimmer of light. The same observation made already about that which constitutes the understanding part, namely the truth of faith, being meant by ‘a window must be made here. It is this: No truth of faith can possibly exist unless it originates in good stemming from love or charity, just as nothing that truly constitutes the understanding exists unless it comes from the will. Take away the will and no understanding exists, as shown several times already. Take away charity therefore and no faith exists. But because man’s will is nothing else than evil desire the Lord has miraculously taken steps to prevent that which constitutes the understanding part, which is the truth of faith, being immersed in his evil desire, and has separated the understanding part of man’s mind from the will part by means of a certain go-between, namely conscience, to which charity is added by the Lord. Without this miraculous provision nobody could ever have been saved.

AC (Elliott) n. 864 864. Verse 7 And he sent out a raven, and it went out going back and forth until the waters dried up from over the earth.

‘He sent out a raven, and it went out going back and forth’ means that falsities were still giving trouble; ‘a raven’ means falsities, ‘going back and forth’ means that such was their state. ‘Until the waters dried up from over the earth’ means the apparent dispersal of falsities.

AC (Elliott) n. 865 865. That ‘he sent out a raven, and it went out going back and forth’ means that falsities were still giving trouble is clear from the meaning of ‘a raven’ and from the meaning of ‘going back and forth’, dealt with in the paragraphs following this. Here the description is of the second state following temptation of the person who is to be regenerated, when the truths of faith start to appear as a first glimmer of light. This is the kind of state in which falsities are continually giving trouble. It is a state resembling the morning twilight when the obscurity of the night is still lingering on. That state is therefore meant here by ‘the raven’. The falsities residing with a spiritual man, especially before he has been regenerated, are as thick patches of cloud, the reason being that he is incapable of knowing any truth of faith except from things that have been revealed in the Word where all things are stated in a general way. General statements there are nothing else than patches of cloud, for any one general statement embraces thousands of details, and each detail thousands of finer points. Those finer points constituting details are what light up the general statements. These have never been so revealed to mankind because they are both indescribable and also in-comprehensible, and so can neither be acknowledged nor believed. In fact they are contrary to the illusions of the senses which govern man, and to whose destruction he does not readily consent.

[2] The case is altogether different with the celestial man, who has perception from the Lord. In him details and their finer points can be implanted. Take, for example, the consideration that true marriage is a marriage of one man and one wife; and that such a marriage is representative of the heavenly marriage, and as a consequence can contain heavenly happiness, something that is not possible when one man has several wives. The spiritual man, who knows of this from the Word of the Lord, gives his assent to it and so acquires a conscience which dictates that being married to several wives is a sin. Beyond this his knowledge does not go. The celestial man however perceives thousands of details which so confirm the point that the thought of marriage to several makes him shudder. When the spiritual man’s knowledge amounts to simply a general view of things, and his conscience is formed from that general view, and when the general statements of the Word are adapted to the illusions of the senses, it is clear that countless falsities which cannot be dispersed will attach themselves and worm their way in. These falsities are meant here by ‘the raven that went out going back and forth’.

AC (Elliott) n. 866 866. ‘A raven’ means falsities. This in a general way becomes clear from what has been stated and shown already about birds meaning intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and facts, and in like manner the opposite of these, which are reasonings and falsities. Both sets of things are described in the Word by various species of birds, things of a true understanding by harmless, beautiful, and clean birds, those of a false understanding however by harmful, ugly, and unclean ones, each depending on the species of truth or falsity under description. Gross and impenetrable falsities are described by ‘owls’ and ‘ravens’ – by owls because they live in the darkness of the night, by ravens because they are black; as in Isaiah,

The owl and the raven will dwell in it. Isa. 34:11.

Here the subject is the Jewish Church, and the fact that nothing but falsities, described as ‘the owl and the raven’, resided in it.

AC (Elliott) n. 867 867. ‘Going back and forth’ means that such was their state. This is clear from the falsities which reside with a person during the first and second states following temptation, that is to say, when falsities are flitting around back and forth. The reason why falsities do so has been given already; in these states a person knows and is capable of knowing only the very general concepts of things. Into these concepts flow delusions deriving from things of the body, the senses, and the world, which do not agree with the truths of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 868 868. ‘Until the waters dried up from over the earth’ means the apparent dispersal of falsities. This is clear from a person’s state when he is being regenerated. Nowadays everyone imagines that evils and falsities with a person are totally dispersed and done away with when he is being regenerated, so that when he has been regenerated no evil or falsity is left, and he is therefore clean and righteous, like someone washed and made clean with water. But this is completely false. Not a single evil nor a single falsity is ever dispersed so as to be done away with. Instead everything fixed in him by heredity since infancy and everything he has acquired through his own actions remains. As a consequence, even though he has been regenerated a person is still nothing but evil and falsity, as is forcibly demonstrated to souls after death. From this it also becomes quite clear that no one has any good or any truth at all unless it derives from the Lord, and that all a person’s evil and falsity derive from the proprium, and that man, a spirit too, and even an angel, if left in the smallest degree to himself, of himself rushes headlong towards hell. This also is why in the Word it is said that heaven is not pure.* This the angels acknowledge, and anyone who does not do so cannot be among them. It is the Lord’s mercy alone which gives them freedom, indeed it raises them up from hell, and withholds them from it and from rushing back there if left to themselves. The fact that they are withheld by the Lord to prevent them rushing into hell, angels perceive clearly, as also do good spirits to a limited extent. Evil spirits however, like men, do not believe this, even though they have been shown it many times, as in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be described from experience further on.

[2] Man’s state therefore being such that no evil or falsity can possibly be so dispersed as to be done away with, because the life which is his own consists in evil and falsity, the Lord in His Divine mercy so subdues a person’s evils and falsities by means of temptations while He is regenerating him that they do seem to be dead. They are not dead however, only subdued so that they are unable to fight against the goods and truths that have been derived from the Lord. At that time by means of temptations the Lord also gives him a new ability to receive goods and truths. He does so by granting him ideas of and affections for good and truth towards which evils and falsities can be turned, and by instilling into his general concepts of things – dealt with already – the details and the finer points to such details, which have been stored away in the individual and of which he knows nothing at all, since they are interior to the sphere of his comprehension and perception. The nature of these things is such that they are able to serve as receptacles or vessels, so that charity can be instilled in them by the Lord, and innocence in charity. Through the remarkable combination of these things with a man, spirit, or angel, a kind of rainbow can be represented, and this is why the rainbow became a sign of the covenant, see Chapter 9:12-16, to be dealt with, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, when those verses are explained. When a person has been so formed he is said to be regenerated. All his evils and falsities still remain, as also do all his truths and goods that have been preserved. In the case of an evil person, all his evils and falsities, exactly as these existed with him during his lifetime, reappear in the next life and are converted into delusions and hellish punishments. But in the case of a good person, all his states of good and truth, such as those of friendship, charity, and innocence, together with their joys and delights – now increased and multiplied immensely – are recalled in the next life. These are the things meant by ‘the waters drying up’, namely the apparent dispersal of falsities.
* Job 15:15

AC (Elliott) n. 869 869. Verse 8 And he sent out a dove from himself to see whether the waters had abated from over the face* of the ground.

‘A dove’ means the truths and goods of faith residing with a person who is to be regenerated. ‘He sent out a dove from himself to see’ means a state of receiving the truths and goods of faith. ‘Whether the waters had abated’ means falsities that hinder. ‘The face* of the ground’ is those things that reside with the member of the Church. The expression ‘the ground’ is used because it is the first stage at which man comes to be the Church.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 870 870. That ‘a dove’ means the truths and goods of faith residing with a person who is to be regenerated is clear from the meaning of ‘a dove’ in the Word, especially from the dove that alighted on Jesus when He was baptized, as mentioned in Matthew,

When Jesus was baptized He went up immediately out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Himself. Matt. 3:16, 17; and in John 1:32, Luke 3:21, 22; Mark 1:10, 11.

Here ‘a dove’ meant nothing else than the holiness of faith, and the ‘baptism’ itself meant regeneration. It also meant therefore the truth and good of faith residing with the new Church that was to arise, which truth and good people receive through being regenerated by the Lord.

[2] Similar things were represented and embodied in the young doves or the turtle doves – mentioned in Lev. 1:14-end; 5:7-10; 12:6; 14:21, 22; 15:14, 15, 29, 30; Num. 6:10, 11; Luke 2:22-24 – which they used to offer as sacrifices and as burnt offerings in the Jewish Church, as becomes clear from each of the references just given. Anyone may grasp that they had such a meaning merely from the fact that they could not have been anything else than things of a representative nature. Otherwise they would be pointless, and in no sense Divine, for the external side of the Church is lifeless, but is made alive by the internal, as is the internal by the Lord.

[3] That ‘a dove’ in general means the intellectual concepts of faith is also clear in the Prophets, as in Hosea,

Ephraim will be like a stupid dove with no heart; they called Egypt, they went away to Assyria. Hosea 7:11.

In the same prophet, speaking of Ephraim,

They will tremble like a bird out of Egypt and a dove from the land of Assyria. Hosea 11:11.

Here ‘Ephraim’ stands for one who has intelligence, ‘Egypt’ for him who has knowledge, ‘Assyria’ for him who is rational, and ‘a dove’ stands for what belongs to the intellectual concepts of faith, the subject there being the regeneration of the spiritual Church. In David,

O Jehovah, deliver not the soul of [Your] turtle dove to the wild animal. Ps 74:19.

‘Wild animal’ stands for people without any charity, ‘the soul of a turtle dove’ for the life of faith. See what has been stated and shown already in 40, 776, about birds meaning intellectual things. Harmless, beautiful, clean, and useful birds in particular mean intellectual truths and goods; but harmful, ugly, unclean, and useless ones, such as the raven, which is here used as the opposite of the dove, mean their opposites, namely falsities.

AC (Elliott) n. 871 871. ‘He sent out a dove from himself to see’ means a state of receiving the truths and good of faith. This becomes clear from the train of thought and also from what follows, where the subject is the three states following temptations in the regeneration of this man, states meant by his sending out the dove three times. Taken almost literally these words imply that he made investigations, for it is said that he sent out the dove from himself ‘to see’, that is to say, as the phrase following shows, to see ‘whether the waters had abated’, which was seeing whether the falsities were still so great that goods and truths of faith could not be received. With the Lord however, because He knows every single thing, no such investigation is necessary. Consequently these words in the internal sense do not mean an investigation but a state, here a first state when falsities were still a hindrance. Such falsities are meant by the words ‘whether the waters had abated’.

AC (Elliott) n. 872 872. ‘The face* of the ground’ means those things that reside with the member of the Church, and the expression ‘the ground’ is used because it is the first stage at which man comes to be the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, dealt with already, as the member of the Church who is at that point called ‘the ground’ when the goods and truths of faith can be sown within him. Previously he is called ‘the land’, as in Genesis 1 where ‘the land’ refers to man prior to his becoming celestial, while Chapter 2, when he has become celestial, refers to him as ‘the ground’ and ‘the field’. It is similar in the present chapter. The expression ‘the land’ and the expression ‘the ground’ are sufficient by themselves to enable someone to recognize what is meant in the internal sense, not only here but also anywhere else in the Word. ‘The ground’ in the universal sense means the Church, and as the Church is meant so too is the member of the Church for, as stated already, every member of the Church is the Church.
* lit. The faces

AC (Elliott) n. 873 873. Verse 9 And the dove found no rest for the sole of its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were over the face’ of the whole earth. And he put out his hand, and took hold of it, and brought it in to himself into the ark.

‘The dove found no rest for the sole of its foot’ means that no good and truth of faith at all had as yet been able to take root. ‘It returned to him to the ark’ means good and truth appearing to be the good and truth of faith with him. ‘For the waters were over the face* of the earth’ means that falsities were still there to overflowing. ‘He put out his hand’ means his own power. ‘And he took hold of it, and brought it in to himself into the ark’ means that self was the source of the good he did and of the truth he thought.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 874 874. This describes the first state following temptation in the regeneration of the member of this Church, a state common to all who are being regenerated. It is a state when people imagine that they themselves are the source of the good they do and of the truth they think. And because they are still in the greatest obscurity, the Lord lets them cling to that opinion. But as long as they cling to that opinion which is false, no good deed they do nor any truth they think is the good or truth of faith. For whatever a person carries out from himself cannot be good since it has come from self, an impure and most unclean origin. From that impure and most unclean origin no good can possibly emerge, for the individual is thinking all the time about his own merit and righteousness. Some go even further, and look down on everybody else, as the Lord teaches in Luke 18:9-14. And others’ attitudes are different again. People’s selfish desires intermingle in such a way that the outside may look good while the inside is filthy. The good therefore that a person does in this state is not the good of faith. And the same applies to the truth he thinks. What he thinks may be the perfect truth; but as long as the proprium is the source of it, though it is in itself the truth of faith, he does not have the good of faith within him. To be the truth of faith all truth must include from the Lord the good of faith. Only then do they become good and truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 875 875. ‘The dove found no rest for the sole of its foot’ means that no good and truth of faith at all had as yet been able to take root. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a dove’ as the truth of faith, and also from the meaning of ‘rest for the sole of the foot’ as taking root. The reason why they cannot take root is stated further on, namely that falsities were still there to overflowing. But nobody can begin to understand what all this means unless he knows how the regeneration of the spiritual man is accomplished.

[2] With this man the cognitions of faith drawn from the Word of the Lord – that is, matters of doctrine drawn from that source, which the Ancient Church had from what had been revealed to the Most Ancient Church – had to be planted in his memory, and in this way the understanding part of his mind received instruction. But as long as falsities dwell there to overflowing, truths of faith cannot take root, even though they have been planted there. They remain solely on the surface, or in the memory. Nor, as stated already, does the ground become suitable until falsities have been so dispersed that they do not reappear.

[3] The ground itself with this person is made ready in the understanding part of his mind, and when it has been made ready good that stems from charity is planted in it by the Lord, and through charity conscience from which he then acts, that is, by means of which the Lord produces in him the good and truth of faith. Thus the Lord separates in this man things belonging to his understanding from those belonging to his will in such a manner that they are in no way united. For if they were united he would inevitably and eternally perish.

[4] With the member of the Most Ancient Church things of the will had been united to those of the understanding, as they are with celestial angels too. But with the member of this Church they were not united, nor are they united with the spiritual man. It still seems as though the good of charity which he does is the product of his will, but that is solely an appearance and illusion. All the good of charity which he does is the Lord’s alone, coming not by way of the will but of conscience. If the Lord were to let up only slightly and allow a person to act from his own will, he would, from hatred, revenge, and cruelty, perform evil instead of good.

[5] The same applies to the truth which a spiritual man thinks and speaks. Unless he thought and spoke from conscience, and so from good that is the Lord’s, he could no more think and speak what is true than the devil’s crew when impersonating angels of light. This is perfectly obvious in the next life. From these considerations it is clear how regeneration is accomplished and what the regeneration of a spiritual man is. It is the separation of the understanding part of his mind from the will part by means of conscience, which is formed by the Lord in that understanding part. What is performed in this manner seemingly springs from his own will, but in fact it does so from the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 876 876. ‘It returned to him to the ark’ means good and truth appearing to be the good and truth of faith [with him]. This is clear from what has been stated already and also from what follows. ‘Returning to the ark’ does not in the internal sense mean being set free. ‘Being sent out of the ark and not returning’ is what has that meaning, as is clear from what follows, where it is said that he sent out the dove and it came back to him no more, verse 12; that he was commanded to leave the ark, verses 15, 16; and that he went out, verse 18. While he was inside the ark, which means his state prior to regeneration, he was in captivity or prison, hemmed in on every side by evils and falsities, which are ‘the flood-waters’. Consequently ‘it returned to him to the ark’ means that good and truth meant by the dove came back to him again. Any good at all which a person supposes that he does from himself comes back to him, for it has self in view. He does it either to be seen by the eyes of the world, or by those of the angels, or he does it to merit heaven, or to be the greatest in heaven. Such considerations occupy his proprium and every one of his ideas, though to outward appearance they look like the good and truth of faith. The good and truth of faith are inwardly good and true from what is inmost, that is, all good and truth of faith flow in from the Lord by way of what is inmost in man. But when they flow from the proprium or from merit-seeking the interiors are filthy while the exteriors appear clean. They are like a diseased prostitute with a beautiful face; or like a black-skinned person, or more appropriately an Egyptian mummy, dressed in white.

AC (Elliott) n. 877 877. ‘The waters were over the face* of the earth’ means that falsities were still there to overflowing. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the waters of the flood’ as falsities, as shown adequately already, and so from the very words themselves.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 878 878. ‘He put out his hand’ means his own power. ‘And he took hold of it, and brought it in to himself into the ark’ means that self was the source of the good he did and of the truth he thought. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the hand’ as power. Here therefore his own power from which he acts is meant. Indeed ‘putting out his hand and taking hold of the dove and bringing it in to himself’ is attaching and attributing to himself the truth meant by the dove. That ‘the hand’ means power, and also the exercise of power, and resulting self-confidence, is clear from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I will visit upon the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Asshur, for he has said, By the power of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. Isa. 10:12, 13.

Here ‘hand’ clearly stands for his own power to which he attributed what he had done, on account of which visitation was made on him.

[2] In the same prophet,

Moab will stretch out his hands in the midst of him as swimmer does to swim, but He will lay low his pride together with the powerfulness* of his hands. Isa. 15:11.

‘Hands’ stands for his own power resulting from projection of self above others, and so from pride. In the same prophet,

Their inhabitants were shorn of power,** they were dismayed and filled with shame. Isa. 37:27.

‘Shorn of power’** stands for having no power. In the same prophet,

Will the clay say to its potter, What are you making? or your work [say], He has no hands? Isa. 45:9.

‘He has no hands’ stands for no power to it. In Ezekiel,

The king will mourn, and the prince will be wrapped in stupidity, and the hands of the people of the land will be all atremble. Ezek. 7:17.

Here ‘the hands’ stands for power. In Micah,

Woe to those devising iniquity and working out evil upon their beds, which they carry out at morning light, and because they make their own hand their god!
Micah 2:1.

‘Hand’ stands for their own power which they trust in as their god. In Zechariah,

Woe to the worthless shepherd deserting the flock! The sword will fall upon his arm and upon his right eye. His arm will be wholly withered, and his right eye utterly darkened. Zech. 11:17.

[3] Since ‘hands’ means powers, men’s evils and falsities are throughout the Word therefore called ‘the works of their hands’. Evils come from the will side of man’s proprium, falsities from the understanding side. The fact that this is the source of evils and falsities becomes quite clear from the nature of the human proprium, that it is nothing but evil and falsity. That this is the nature of the proprium see what has been stated already in 39, 41, 141, 150, 154, 210, 215. Because ‘the hands’ in general means power, the Word therefore frequently attributes hands to Jehovah, or the Lord. And in those contexts ‘hands’ in the internal sense means omnipotence, as in Isaiah, Jehovah, Your hand has been lifted up. Isa. 26:11. ‘Hand’ stands for Divine power. In the same prophet,

Jehovah stretches out*** His hand, they are all destroyed. Isa. 31:3.

‘Hand’ stands for Divine power. In the same prophet,

Over the work of My hands command Me. My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isa. 45:11, 12.

‘Hands’ stands for Divine power. In the Word regenerate people are often called ‘the work of Jehovah’s hands’. In the same prophet,

My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured out the heavens. Isa. 48:13.

‘Hand’ and ‘right hand’ stand for omnipotence.

[4] In the same prophet,

Has My hand been shortened, that it cannot redeem? Is there no power in Me to deliver? Isa. 50:2.

‘Hand’ and ‘power’ stand for Divine power. In Jeremiah,

You did bring Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm. Jer. 32. 17, 21.

‘Power’ in verse 17 and ‘hand’ in verse 21 stand for Divine power. It is quite often stated that ‘they were brought out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm’: in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, On the day I chose Israel and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I lifted up My hand to them, to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Ezek. 20:5, 6, 23.

In Moses,

Israel saw the great work**** which Jehovah did on the Egyptians. Exod. 14:31.

[5] All these quotations plainly show that ‘the hand’ means power. Indeed so much was the hand the symbol of power that it also became its representative, as is clear from the miracles performed in Egypt, when Moses was commanded to stretch out his rod or his hand and they were
accomplished –

Moses stretched out his hand and there was hail all over Egypt. Exod. 9:22, 23.
Moses stretched out his hand and there was darkness. Exod. 10:21, 22.
Moses stretched out his hand and rod over the Sea Suph and it was dried up, and he stretched out his hand and it returned. Exod. 14:11, 27.*****
No mentally normal person can believe that any power resided in Moses’ hand or rod. Rather, because the lifting up and stretching out of the hand symbolized Divine power, that action also became its representative in the Jewish Church.

[6] The same applies to Joshua’s stretching out his javelin, described as follows,

Jehovah said, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand towards Ai, for I will give it into your hand. When Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand, they entered the city and took it. And Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Josh. 8:18, 19, 26.

This also makes clear the nature of the representatives which comprised the external features of the Jewish Church. Consequently the Word is such that details recorded in its external sense do not give the appearance of being representatives of the Lord and His kingdom, such as the reference in these quotations to Moses or Joshua stretching out his hand, and all other details recorded there. In these it is never evident that such things are being represented as long as the mind is fixed solely on the historical details of the letter. From this it is also evident how far the Jews had receded from a true understanding of the Word and of the religious practices of their Church by focusing the whole of their worship purely on things of an external nature, even to the extent of attributing power to Moses’ rod and to Joshua’s javelin, when in fact these had no more power in them than a piece of wood. Yet because they did symbolize the Lord’s omnipotence, which was at the time understood in heaven, signs and miracles were accomplished when by command they stretched out their hand or rod. Something similar happened when Moses on the hilltop held up his hands. When he did so Joshua was winning, but when he dropped them he was losing. So they held his hands up for him. Exod. 17:9-13.

[7] It was similar with the laying on of hands when men were being consecrated, as the people did to the Levites, Num. 8:9, 10, 12, and as Moses did to Joshua when the latter was to succeed him, Num. 27:18, 23 – the purpose being to confer power. And this is why in our own times the ceremonies of ordination and of blessing are accompanied by the laying on of hands. To what extent the hand meant and represented power becomes clear from the following references in the Word to Uzzah and Jeroboam,

Of Uzzah it says that he reached out (his hand) to the Ark of God and took hold of it, and as a consequence died. 2 Sam. 6:6, 7.

‘The Ark’ represented the Lord, and so everything holy and heavenly. ‘Uzzah reached out to the Ark’ represented man’s own power, which is his proprium. And because the proprium is unholy the word ‘hand’ is left out but nevertheless understood. It is left out to prevent angels perceiving anything so profane as his touching with his hand that which was holy. And because he ‘reached out’ he died.

[8] In reference to Jeroboam,

It happened, when he heard the saying of the man of God which he cried out against the altar, that Jeroboam reached out his hand from above the altar saying, Lay hold of him. And his hand which he reached out against him dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself. He said to the man of God, Entreat now the face****** of Jehovah your God, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God entreated the face****** of Jehovah and his hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. 1 Kings 13:4-6.

Here similarly ‘reaching out his hand’ means man’s own power, or proprium, which is unholy. He was willing to violate what was holy by stretching out his hand against the man of God, as a consequence of which his hand was dried up. Yet because he was an idolater and therefore not able to profane, as stated already, his hand was restored. The fact that ‘the hand’ means and represents power becomes clear from representatives in the world of spirits. In that world a bare arm sometimes comes into sight possessing so much strength that it can break bones to bits and crush their inner marrow to nothing at all. It consequently strikes so much terror as to cause heart-failure. It really does possess such strength.
* lit. with the cataracts or the floodgates
** lit. short in the hand
*** or has stretched out
**** lit. the great hand
***** verses 15, 16, of Exod. 14 were possibly intended in this reference as well as verses 21, 27.
****** lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 879 879. Verses 10, 11 And he waited yet another seven days, and then proceeded to send out the dove from the ark. And the dove came back to him at evening time; and behold, in its mouth an olive leaf plucked off. And Noah knew that the waters had abated from over the earth.

‘He waited yet another seven days’ means the beginning of the second state of regeneration, ‘seven days’ meaning that which is holy, because now charity is the subject. ‘And he proceeded to send out the dove from the ark’ means a state of receiving the goods and truths of faith. ‘And the dove returned to him at evening time’ means that these started to show themselves a little, ‘evening time’ being similar in meaning to pre-morning twilight. ‘And behold, in its mouth an olive leaf plucked off means a small measure of the truth of faith, ‘leaf’ meaning truth,’ olive good that stems from charity, ‘plucked off’ the fact that the truth of faith derives from that charity, and ‘in its mouth’ the fact that it was made visible. ‘And Noah knew that the waters had abated from over the earth’ means that all this was so because the obstructive falsities were now fewer than previously.

AC (Elliott) n. 880 880. That ‘he waited yet another seven days’ means the beginning of the second state of regeneration becomes clear from the fact that the interval between the first state, dealt with in verses 8, 9, just above, and this second state, dealt with here in verses 10, 11, is being described. So that things may be linked together as though they were historical events, that interval is expressed by the phrase ‘he waited’. The nature of the second state of regeneration becomes clear to some extent from what has been stated and shown concerning the first, which was a state in which truths of faith had not as yet been able to take root on account of the falsities that obstructed. Truths of faith first strike root when a person starts to acknowledge and believe. Till then they have not struck root. What a person hears from the Word and retains in the memory is no more than a sowing of the seed; in no way does rooting start until that person receives and welcomes good that stems from charity. Every truth of faith has its roots in the good of faith, that is, in good that stems from charity. It is just like seed that is cast on the land. While it is still winter-time, that is, when the land is frozen hard, there it indeed lies but does not take root. But as soon as the warmth of the sun which arrives in early spring warms up the land, the seed starts to grow roots for the first time and then to strike down into the soil. The same applies to spiritual seed that is sown. This never strikes root until good that stems from charity warms it up so to speak. Only then does it grow a root on itself which it then pushes forth.

[2] With man there are three things which go together and combine – the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial. His natural never acquires any life except from the spiritual; the spiritual never acquires any except from the celestial; and the celestial does so from the Lord alone, who is Life itself. To obtain a clearer picture of this idea, let it be said that the natural is the receptacle that receives, or the vessel into which the spiritual is poured; and the spiritual is the receptacle that receives, or the vessel into which the celestial is poured. Thus it is through celestial things that life from the Lord flows. That is how influx works. The celestial is essentially all the good of faith; with a spiritual man it exists as the good of charity. The spiritual is truth, which in no way becomes the truth of faith unless it has within it the good of faith, that is, good that stems from charity, in which good there is life itself from the Lord. To make the matter more intelligible still: it is man’s natural that puts a work of charity into effect, whether by hand or by mouth, and so through the organs of the body. Yet in itself the work is dead and has no life except from what is spiritual within it. Nor does what is spiritual have life except from what is celestial, which has it from the Lord. This is what enables it to be called a good work, for nothing is good if it does not derive from the Lord.

[3] This being so it may become clear to anyone that with every work of charity, the work regarded in itself is a purely physical action, which is made living however by the truth of faith lying within the work. And what is more, the truth of faith is something lifeless, which is however made alive from the good of faith. And the good of faith has no life except from the Lord alone, who is Good itself and Life itself. This explains why celestial angels will not hear of faith, even less of works, see 202, for they trace both faith and works back to love. They attribute faith to love, and they attribute the works produced by faith to love. For them therefore both the works and faith leave their sight, and only love and good deriving from it remain. And within their love is the Lord. Because those angels have ideas so celestial they are differentiated from the angels who are called spiritual. Their very thinking and consequent speaking are more inconceivable by far than the thought and speech of spiritual angels.

AC (Elliott) n. 881 881. ‘Seven’ means that which is holy because now charity is the subject. This is clear from the meaning of the number seven, dealt with already in 395 and 716. Furthermore ‘seven’ has been brought in here so that all things may be linked together as though they were historical events, for in the internal sense ‘seven’ and ‘seven days’ contribute nothing more to the meaning than a certain holiness which this second state possesses from what is celestial, that is, from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 882 882. ‘And he proceeded to send out the dove from the ark’ means a state of receiving the goods and truths of faith. This is clear from what has been stated at verse 8 where nearly identical words appear, with the difference that there it is said ‘he sent out the dove from himself’, for the reason also given there, that at that time he himself was the source of every work of truth or good which he performed. That is to say, he believed that he performed it by his own power, meant by ‘from himself’.

AC (Elliott) n. 883 883. ‘The dove returned to him at evening time’ means that these started to show themselves a little; and ‘evening time’ is similar to pre-morning twilight. This in like manner becomes clear from that has been stated already at verse 8, and also from the fact that here it is called ‘evening time’. Concerning ‘evening’, see what has been stated in Genesis 1, where six times the statement is made ‘there was evening and there was morning’. ‘Evening’ is a word that has to do with regeneration and indeed with that state when a person is still in near-darkness, or when there is still only a tiny quantity of light showing itself to him. Morning itself is described in verse 13 below by ‘he removed the roof from the ark and saw out’. Because ‘evening’ meant the pre-morning twilight, mention of the evening is made so many times in the Jewish Church. This also is why sabbaths and festivals began from evening onwards, and why Aaron was commanded to light the sacred lamp ‘in the evening’, Exod. 27:21.

AC (Elliott) n. 884 884. ‘And behold, in its mouth an olive leaf plucked off’ means a small measure of the truth of faith; ‘leaf’ meaning truth, ‘olive’ good that stems from charity, ‘plucked off’ the fact that the truth of faith derives from that charity, and ‘in its mouth’ the fact that it was made visible. This is clear from the meaning of ‘olive’ and is evident from the very words themselves. That a tiny quantity is meant is clear from the fact that it was a leaf and no more.

AC (Elliott) n. 885 885. That ‘a leaf’ means truth is clear from various places in the Word, where man is compared to or actually called a tree. ‘Fruit’ in those contexts means the good that stems from charity, and ‘leaf’ the truth deriving from this, for these are indeed like fruit and leaves, as in Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food, whose leaf does not fall, nor its fruit fail, but is reborn monthly, for its waters flow out from the Sanctuary, and its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for medicine. Ezek. 47:11; Rev. 22:1.

Here ‘tree’ stands for the member of the Church who has the Lord’s kingdom within him, ‘fruit’ stands for the good that stems from love and charity, ‘leaf’ for truths deriving from that good which serve to instruct the human race and to regenerate it. And because truths do this the leaf is said to be ‘for medicine’. In the same prophet,

Will He not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit so that it withers? And all the plucked off (leaves) from its off-shoot will wither. Ezek. 17:9.

The subject here is the vine, which is the Church, when it has been vastated, whose good, which is ‘the fruit’, and its truth, which is that ‘plucked off from its off-shoot’, thus wither away.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah. He will be like a tree planted beside the waters. His leaf will be green, and in the year of scarcity he will not be anxious. Nor will he cease to bear fruit. Jer. 17:7, 8.

‘Green leaf’ stands for the truth of faith, and so for faith itself which derives from charity. The same applies in David, Ps. 1:3. In the same prophet,

There will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and its leaf has fallen. Jer. 8:13.

‘Grapes on the vine’ stands for spiritual good, ‘figs on the fig tree’ for natural good, leaf’ for truth, which has accordingly fallen. Likewise in Isa. 74:4. Similar things were meant by ‘the fig tree’ that Jesus saw, which was made to wither away when He found nothing but leaves on it, Matt. 21:20; Mark 11:13, 14. The Jewish Church in particular was what ‘the fig tree’ was used to mean on that occasion. With this Church no natural good existed any longer, only that preserved with them which was meant by ‘a leaf’, namely doctrine, or truth, concerning faith. A Church that has been vastated is one that knows truth but has no wish to understand it. They are like people who say they know the truth, or matters of faith, but who possess no good at all that stems from charity. They are merely ‘fig leaves’, and they wither away.

AC (Elliott) n. 886 886. That ‘olive’ means the good that stems from charity is clear not only from the meaning of ‘olive’ but also from the meaning of ‘oil’ in the Word. Olive oil in addition to spices was used to anoint priests and kings, and it was also used in the lamps. Concerning the former, see Exod. 30:24, and the latter, Exod. 27:20. The reason olive oil was used in anointing and in lamps was that it represented everything celestial and so everything good that stems from love and charity. Oil is in fact the essential element of the tree, its soul so to speak, as the celestial or the good that stems from love and charity is the essential element or soul itself of faith. This is the origin of its representation. That ‘oil’ means that which is celestial or the good that stems from love and charity may be confirmed from many places in the Word, but since the olive itself is referred to here, let some that confirm the meaning solely of the olive be quoted. In Jeremiah,

Jehovah called your name, Green Olive Tree, fair with shapely fruit. Jer. 11:16.

The name given here applies to the Most Ancient or celestial Church, which was the basis of the Jewish Church. Consequently all the representatives of the Jewish Church had regard to celestial things, and through the latter to the Lord.

[2] In Hosea,

His branches will go out and his beauty will be like the olive, and his smell like that of Lebanon. Hosea 14:6.

This refers to the Church that is to be established. Its beauty is ‘the olive’, that is, the good that stems from love and charity, while ‘the smell like that of Lebanon’ is resulting affection for the truth of faith. ‘Lebanon’ stands for its cedars, which meant spiritual things, or the truths of faith.

In Zechariah,

Two olive trees beside the lampstand, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left of it. These are the two sons of pure oil, standing beside the Lord of the whole earth. Zech. 4:3, 11, 14.

Here ‘the two olive trees’ stands for the celestial and the spiritual, and so for love which belongs to the celestial Church and for charity which belongs to the spiritual Church. These stand to the right and to the left of the Lord. ‘The lampstand’ here means the Lord, just as it used to represent Him in the Jewish Church. ‘The lamps’ are celestial things from which spiritual things radiate like rays of light, or light itself, from a flame. In David,

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your sons will be like olive shoots. Ps. 128:3.

Here ‘a wife like a vine’ stands for the spiritual Church, and ‘sons’ stands for the truths of faith which are called ‘olive shoots’ because they stem from the goods of charity. In Isaiah,

Gleanings will be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries on the top of the [highest] branch. Isa. 17:6.

This refers to the remnants residing with a person. ‘Olives’ stands for celestial remnants. In Micah,

You will tread olives but not anoint yourself with oil, and tread the new wine but not drink wine. Micah 6:15.

And in Moses,

You will plant and dress vineyards but not drink wine. You will have olive trees within all your borders but not anoint yourself with oil. Deut. 28:39, 40.

The subject here is the abundance of doctrinal detail concerning the goods and truths of faith which they rejected because of the kind of people they were. From these quotations it becomes clear that ‘a leaf’ means the truth of faith and ‘olive’ the good that stems from charity. And similar things are meant by ‘the olive leaf which the dove was carrying in its mouth’, that is, a small measure of the truth of faith deriving from the good that stems from charity was now showing itself with the member of the Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 887 887. The waters abated from over the earth’ means that all this was so because the obstructive falsities were now fewer. This is clear from the meaning of the same words that have appeared already in verse 8. As regards the obstructive falsities being fewer than previously in this second state which is the subject here, all the falsities a person has acquired so remain with him that not one is done away with, as stated already. But when a person is being regenerated truths are planted in him towards which falsities are turned by the Lord. It thus appears as though they have been dispersed, dispersed by means of the goods which he is given.

AC (Elliott) n. 888 888. Verse 12 And he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not come back to him any more.

‘He waited yet another seven days’ means the beginning of the third state, ‘seven days’ meaning that which is holy. ‘And he sent out the dove’ means a state of receiving the goods and truths of faith. ‘The dove did not come back to him any more’ means a state of freedom.

AC (Elliott) n. 889 889. That ‘he waited yet another seven days’ means the beginning of the third state, ‘seven’ meaning that which is holy, is clear from what has already been stated immediately above about the second state, where similar words occur.

AC (Elliott) n. 890 890. ‘And he sent out the dove’ means a state of receiving the goods and truths of faith. This similarly is clear from what has been stated at verse 10, for the words are the same and the sense too, the sole difference being that in that verse the subject is the second state, in this verse the third. The third state is described by ‘the dove’s not coming back’, also by ‘Noah’s removing the covering from the ark’, and lastly by ‘his going out of the ark because the face* of the ground had dried up and the earth had dried out’.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 891 891. ‘The dove did not return to him any more’ means a state of freedom. This follows from what was said above, in particular from the fact that the dove, or the truth of faith – like the other birds, and also the beasts, and so Noah too – was no longer confined to the ark on account of the flood-waters. All the time he was in the ark it was a state of slavery, that is, a state of bondage or imprisonment, with the flood-waters, or falsities, tossing him about. That state is described along with the state of temptation in Chapter 7:17 above, where it is said that ‘the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and raised it above the earth’, and also in 7:18 that ‘the waters grew stronger and the ark went over the face* of the waters’. His state of freedom is described in verses 15-18 of the present chapter not only by Noah’s going out of the ark but also by all the other living things accompanying him – the dove, that is, the truth of faith deriving from good, first of all, for all freedom has its origin in the good of faith, that is, in the love of good.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 892 892. Once someone has been regenerated he enters for the first time into a state of freedom. Previously he has been in a state of slavery. It is slavery when evil desires and falsities predominate, freedom when affections for good and truth do so. As long as he is in a state of slavery, a person never perceives what his situation is. Only when he enters a state of freedom does he start to do so. When he is in a state of slavery, that is, when evil desires and falsities predominate, the person who has become subject to them imagines that he is in a state of freedom. That however is sheer falsity, for he is at that time being carried away by the delight that accompanies desires and resulting pleasures, that is, by the delight accompanying the loves that are his own. And because he is being carried away by such delight it seems to him as though he were a free man. While anyone is being led on by any kind of love, and following wherever it leads, he imagines that he is free. It is however the devilish spirits, in whose company and so to speak fast moving stream he is caught, who carry him away. This person imagines that this is absolute freedom, indeed he goes so far as to believe that if he were robbed of this state he would be entering upon a very miserable existence, in fact into no existence at all. This he believes not only because he is unaware of the existence of any other kind of life but also because he has gained the impression that nobody can enter heaven without suffering hardships, poverty, and deprivation of pleasures. That this is false however I have been given to know from considerable experience. That experience will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on.

[2] No one ever enters into a state of freedom until he has been regenerated and is being led by the Lord by means of the love of good and truth. When he has entered that state he is enabled to know and perceive for the first time what freedom really is, because he can at that point know and perceive what life is, what the true delight in life is, and what happiness is. Prior to this he does not even know what good is, and sometimes that which is supremely good he calls supremely evil. When persons who are in a state of freedom from the Lord see the life that goes with evil desires and falsities, and even more when they experience it, they are as appalled by it as people who see hell opened before their eyes. But because the majority of people have no knowledge at all of what a life of freedom is, let a brief mention of it be made here: A life of freedom, or freedom itself, means being led exclusively by the Lord. Quite a number of obstacles stand in the way of a person’s being able to believe that that kind of life is a life of freedom. One obstacle is that people undergo temptations, which take place for the purpose of freeing them from the dominion of devilish spirits. Another is that they know of no other delight and good apart from those belonging to the desires that result from self-love and love of the world. A further obstacle is that they have formed a false impression of all the things that belong to heavenly life. Consequently they are less able to learn from descriptions than from actual experiences, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be introduced later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 893 893. Verse 13 And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from over the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out, and behold, the face* of the ground was dry.

‘It happened in the six hundred and first year’ means a finishing point. ‘At the beginning, on the first of the month’ means a starting point. ‘The waters dried up from over the earth’ means that falsities were not at that time apparent. ‘And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out’ means the light, once falsities had been removed, shed by the truths of faith, which he acknowledged and in which he had faith. ‘And behold, the face* of the ground was dry’ means regeneration.
* lit. the faces

[893a]* That ‘it happened in the six hundred and first year means a finishing point is clear from the meaning of the number six hundred, dealt with at Chapter 7:6, in 737, as a beginning, and in particular in that verse as the beginning of temptation. The end of it is specified by the same number, with a whole year having now passed by. It took place therefore at the end of a year, and this also is why the words are added ‘at the beginning, on the first of the month’, meaning a starting point. In the Word any complete period is specified either by a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, and even by a hundred or a thousand years – for example, ‘the days’ mentioned in Genesis 1, which meant stages in the regeneration of the member of the Most Ancient Church. For in the internal sense day and year mean nothing else than a period of time; and meaning a period of time they also mean a state. Consequently a year stands in the Word for a period of time and for a state, as in Isaiah,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah’s good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isa. 61:2.

This refers to the Lord’s Coming. In the same prophet,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed had come. Isa. 63:4.

Here too ‘day’ and ‘year’ stand for a period of time and for a state. In Habakkuk,

Your work, O Jehovah, in the midst of the years make it live, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Hab. 3:2.

Here ‘years’ stands for a period of time and for a state. In David,

‘You are God Himself, and Your years have no end. Ps. 102:27.

This statement, in which ‘years’ stands for periods of time, means that time does not exist with God. The same applies in the present verse where ‘the year’ of the flood in no way means any one particular year but a period of time that is not determined by a specific number of years. At the same time it means a state. See what has been said already about ‘years’ in 482, 487, 488, 493.
* This paragraph is not numbered in the Latin.

AC (Elliott) n. 894 894. ‘At the beginning, on the first of the month’ means a starting point. This is now clear from what has been said above. Everything that this statement embodies is an arcanum so deep that it cannot be described, except for just the point that no definite period of time ever exists when anyone is regenerate enough to be able to say, ‘Now I am perfect’. In fact an unlimited number of states of evil and falsity exist with everyone, not only simple states but also varied and complex ones which, as has been stated, have to be disposed of in such a way that they do not recur. In some states a person can be called fairly perfect, but in countless others he cannot. People who have been regenerated during their lifetime, and in whose lives faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour have been present, are in the next life being perfected all the time.

AC (Elliott) n. 895 895. ‘The waters dried up from over the earth’ means that falsities were not at that time apparent. This is clear from what has been stated. In particular these words mean that falsities had been separated from things of the will belonging to the member of this Church. The statement ‘the waters dried up from over the earth’ occurs at this point because here ‘earth’ means the person’s will, which is nothing but evil desire. As stated already, the ground is situated in the understanding part of man’s mind, in which part truths are sown. No sowing ever takes place in the will part, which in the spiritual man has been separated from the understanding part. This is why in the last part of this verse it is said that ‘the face* of the ground was dry’. With the member of the Most Ancient Church there was ground in the will part of his mind, where the Lord implanted goods. It was from goods therefore that he was able to know and perceive truth, that is, it was from love that he was able to possess faith. If the same thing were to happen today however, a person would inevitably and eternally perish, for his will is utterly corrupted. What implantation in the will part entails and what in the understanding part becomes clear from the consideration that the member of the Most Ancient Church had in fact enjoyed revelations through which from early childhood onwards he was led into a perception of goods and truths. But since they used to be implanted in the will part of his mind he perceived without any further instruction the countless aspects of any one general matter. He knew from the Lord the details and the finer points which nowadays men must learn before knowing about them. And even then they can know scarcely one thousandth of them. For the member of the spiritual Church knows nothing unless he acquires it by learning; and what he gets to know in this fashion he retains and believes to be true. Indeed if he learns something false and this is impressed on him as though it were true, he believes that as well, for he has no other perception than that a thing is true because he has in that way been persuaded of it. People who possess conscience derive from conscience a certain dictate. Yet with them a thing is true only because they have heard and learned that it is. This is what constitutes their conscience, as becomes clear from people who have a conscience of what is false.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 896 896. ‘Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out’ means the light, once falsities had been removed, shed by the truths of faith which he acknowledged and in which he had faith. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘removing the covering’ as taking away the things that obstruct the light. Since ‘the ark’ means the member of the Ancient Church who was to be regenerated, ‘the covering’ can mean nothing else than that which obstructed his view of the sky, that is, of the light. It was falsity that obstructed it, which is why it is said that he ‘saw out’. In the Word seeing means understanding and possessing faith. In the present context it means that he acknowledged truths and had faith in them. Knowing truths is one thing, acknowledging truths altogether another, and having faith in truths yet another. Knowing is the first step in regeneration, acknowledging the second, and having faith the third. The difference between knowing, acknowledging, and having faith becomes clear from the fact that the worst people of all are capable of knowing and yet do not acknowledge, as is the case with Jews and with people who endeavour to demolish matters of doctrine with brilliant arguments. People who are not true believers are able to acknowledge as well, and in certain states are able with zeal to preach, confirm, and persuade. None but true believers however can have faith.

[2] Those who have faith know, acknowledge, and believe; they have charity, and they have conscience. Consequently faith can never be attributed to anyone, that is, he cannot be said to have faith, unless he is such as these people are. This then is what being regenerate entails. Merely knowing something that belongs to faith is an activity of memory which does not involve any assent of the rational. Acknowledging that which belongs to faith is in itself a rational assent brought about by certain causes and for the sake of certain ends. But having faith is an activity of conscience, that is, of the Lord working through conscience. These distinctions are made clear best of all from people in the next life. Of those who merely know, many are in hell; and many of those who acknowledge are there also, for the reason that their acknowledgement during their lifetime was, as stated, confined to certain states. But when they perceive in the next life that what they have preached, taught, and persuaded others of has been the truth, they are most surprised and acknowledge that it is the truth only when they are reminded that they have so preached it. But of those who have had faith, all are in heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 897 897. The subject here being the regenerate member of the Ancient Church, ‘seeing means acknowledging and possessing faith. That ‘seeing’ has this meaning becomes clear from the Word, as in Isaiah,

You did not look to the Maker of it, and Him who fashioned it long ago you did not set. Isa. 21:11.

This refers to the city of Zion. ‘Not seeing Him who fashioned it long ago’ means not even acknowledging, let alone possessing faith. In the same prophet,

Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and their heart understands and they turn again and are healed. Isa. 6:10.

‘Seeing with the eyes’ stands for acknowledging and possessing faith. In the same prophet,

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Isa. 9:2.

This refers to gentiles who received faith, as does the present verse which says that ‘he removed the covering, and saw out’. In the same prophet,

On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see Isa. 19:18.

This refers to the conversion of gentiles to faith. ‘Seeing’ stands for receiving faith. In the same prophet,

Hear, you deaf, look and see, you blind. Isa. 41:18.

Here the meaning is similar. In Ezekiel,

They have eyes to see but they see not; they have ears to hear but they hear not because they are a rebellious house. Ezek. 12:2.

This stands for people who are capable of understanding, acknowledging, and possessing faith but who do not wish to. That ‘seeing’ means possessing faith is quite clear from the representation of the Lord by the bronze serpent in the wilderness when everyone who beheld it would be healed, and of which it is said in Moses,

Set a serpent on a standard, and it will happen that everyone who has been bitten, when he sees it, will live So it happened, if a serpent had bitten a man, when he saw the serpent of bronze, that he lived. Num. 21:8, 9.

Anyone may see from this that ‘seeing’ means faith, for what else can ‘seeing’ be in this instance than something representative of faith in the Lord? This point is clear also from the fact that Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, who was given that name from the word ‘seeing’, in the internal sense means faith. See what has been stated already about the firstborn of the Church in 352 and 367.

AC (Elliott) n. 898 898. ‘And behold, the face* of the ground was dry’ means regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, dealt with in several places already, as the member of the Church. ‘The face* of the ground’ is said to be ‘dry’ when falsities were apparent no longer.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 899 899. Verse 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

‘The second month’ means the whole of the state prior to regeneration. ‘The twenty-seventh day’ means that which is holy. ‘The earth was dry’ means that he was regenerated. These words form the conclusion to what has gone before and the starting point to what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 900 900. That ‘the second month’ means the whole of the state prior to regeneration is clear from the meaning of ‘two’ in the Word. ‘Two’ has the same meaning as ‘six’, that is, the conflict and toil that come before regeneration. Thus here it means the whole of the state that comes before a person has been regenerated. In the Word it is common for periods of time, long or short, to be divided into threes or sevens and to be called days, weeks, months, years, or ages. ‘Three’ and ‘seven’ are holy, while ‘two’ or ‘six’, which come before them, are not holy but in comparison are unholy, as shown already in 720. Three and seven are also sacred numbers because both of them occur in statements concerning the Last Judgement which will take place on the third or the seventh day. It is the last judgement for everybody when the Lord comes, either in general or in particular. That is to say, there was a last judgement when the Lord came into the world; there will be a last judgement when He comes in glory; there is a last judgement when He comes to each person in particular. There is also a last judgement awaiting everyone when he dies. This last judgement is meant by ‘the third day’ and ‘the seventh day’. It is a holy day for people who have lived well, but not for those who have lived wickedly. Consequently ‘the third day’, and ‘the seventh’, apply to people for whom judgement points to death as well as to those for whom judgement points to life. In reference to those therefore whose judgement points to death these numbers mean that which is not holy, but in reference to those whose judgement points to life they mean that which is holy. Two or six which come before them relate to, and in general mean, the whole of that state which precedes. This is the meaning of the numbers two and six, whatever the subject and whatever the aspects of it they refer to. This becomes clearer still from what follows next concerning the number ‘twenty-seven’.

AC (Elliott) n. 901 901. ‘The twenty-seventh day’ means that which is holy. This is clear from what has been said above, for it is the composite number that is obtained when three is cubed – that is, three multiplied by three making nine, and nine multiplied by three again making twenty-seven. The predominant factor in this number therefore is three. This was how the most ancient people calculated numbers and by means of them meant nothing else than real things. That ‘three’ has the same meaning as seven becomes clear from what has been stated already just above. A hidden reason why it does so is that the Lord rose on the third day. The Lord’s resurrection itself comprehends all that is holy, and the resurrection of all men. This was why in the Jewish Church this number became representative, and why in the Word it is a holy number. It is similar in heaven where no numbers are envisaged. Instead of three and seven they have a general holy idea of the resurrection and of the Coming of the Lord.

[2] That ‘three’ and ‘seven’ mean what is holy is clear from the following places in the Word: In Moses,

Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days. He shall purify himself on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. And if he does not purify himself on the third day then he will not be clean on the seventh day. He who touches one pierced by the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre will be unclean for seven days. The one who is clean shall sprinkle [with hyssop] over the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he [the unclean] shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and will be clean in the evening. Num. 19:11, 11, 16, 19.

Quite clearly these requirements are representative, that is, things of an external nature meaning those that are internal. Take for example the fact that anyone was unclean who had touched one who had died, or one pierced [by the sword], or a human bone, or a sepulchre. Each of these objects means in the internal sense things that are a person’s own, which are dead and unholy. So too with the requirement that he had to bathe himself in water and would be clean in the evening. And the third day and the seventh day were in like manner representative. They mean that which is holy because these were the days when he was to be purified and so be cleansed.

[3] The same usage occurs in the reference to the men coming back from the battle with the Midianites, who were told,

Camp outside the camp for seven days. Every one of you who has killed someone* and every one who has touched one slain** shall purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day. Num. 31:19.

If this were just a ceremonial observance and the third and the seventh days were not representative and symbolical of that which is holy, that is, of purification, it would be something dead. It would be something without a cause and a cause without an end in view. That is, it would be like that which has been severed from its cause and its cause from its end in view; and so there would be nothing Divine about it at all. That the third day was representative of, and so symbolized, that which is holy, is quite clear from the Lord’s coming down on Mount Sinai, concerning which event the following command was given, Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, in order that they may wash their garments and be ready on the third day, for on the third day Jehovah will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people. Exod. 19:10, 11, 15, 16.

[4] The same usage occurs in Joshua’s crossing the Jordan on the third day,

Joshua commanded, Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing this Jordan to go and take possession of the land. ‘The crossing of the Jordan’ represented the introduction of the children of Israel, that is, of the regenerate, into the Lord’s kingdom, ‘Joshua’, who led them in, representing the Lord Himself. And this took place ‘on the third day’. Because the third day, like the seventh, was holy it was stipulated that the third year should be a year of taking tithes*** and in that year people should be holy in their conduct by performing charitable works, Deut. 26:12 and following verses. ‘Tithes’*** represented remnants, which are holy because they are the Lord’s alone. Jonah’s presence in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, Jonah 1:17, clearly represented the Lord’s burial and His resurrection on the third day, Matt. 12:40.

[5] That ‘three’ means that which is holy is also clear in the Prophets, as in Hosea,

Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him. Hosea 6:2.

Here too ‘the third day’ clearly stands for the Lord’s Coming, and for His resurrection. In Zechariah,

It will happen in all the land that two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last, and a third will be left in it. And I will lead the third part through fire, and I will refine them as one refines silver, and test them as one tests gold. Zech. 13:8, 9.

Here ‘a third part’ or three stands for that which is holy. A third embodies the same as three, and so does the third of a third, as in the present verse, for three is the cube root of twenty-seven.
* lit. a soul
** lit. pierced
*** or tenths

AC (Elliott) n. 902 902. ‘The earth was dry’ means that he was regenerated. This is clear from what has been stated already at the previous verses 7 and 13 about the drying up of the waters and the drying out of the earth and of the face* of the ground.
* lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 903 903. Verses 15, 16 And God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.

‘God spoke to Noah’ means the Lord’s presence with the member of this Church. ‘Going out of the ark’ means freedom. ‘You and your wife means the Church. ‘Your sons and your sons’ wives with you’ means truths, and goods joined to truths, residing with him.

AC (Elliott) n. 904 904. That ‘God spoke to Noah’ means the Lord’s presence with the member of the Church becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks to everybody, for whatever good and truth a person wills and thinks comes from the Lord. With everyone there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. The former activate his evils whereas the latter instill goods and truths. Every good or truth that angels instill is the Lord’s; in this way the Lord is constantly speaking to man, though quite differently from one person to the next. To people who allow themselves to be carried away by evil spirits the Lord speaks as though He were not present, or so far away that He can hardly be said to be speaking. But to those who are being led by the Lord, the Lord speaks as one who is quite present. This becomes clear enough from the fact that nobody can possibly think of anything good and true except from the Lord.

[2] The Lord’s presence is relative to the state of love towards the neighbour and of faith present in a person. It is in love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, for He is present in all good, and not so much in so-called faith that is devoid of love. Faith devoid of love and charity is something severed or disjoined. Wherever conjunction exists there has to be a conjoining agency, which is exclusively love and charity. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that the Lord has compassion on everybody, loves everyone, and wishes to make everyone eternally happy. A person therefore who is devoid of the kind of love that leads him to have compassion on others, to love them, and to wish to make them happy, cannot be joined to the Lord because he is not at all like Him, and is in no sense the image of Him. Looking to the Lord by means of that which goes by the name of faith while hating the neighbour amounts not only to standing a long way off, but also to having between himself and the Lord a hell-like chasm into which the person would fall if he wished to go any nearer. For it is hatred towards the neighbour that constitutes that intervening hell-like chasm.

[3] The Lord is present with a person the moment he starts to love the neighbour. It is in love that the Lord is present, and to the extent that a person has love the Lord is present. And to the extent that the Lord is present He speaks to man. No one knows anything other than that he thinks from himself. Yet he possesses not one single idea of thought, not even the shred of an idea, from himself. Rather that which is evil and false he possesses through evil spirits from hell, and that which is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is influx, the channel by which a person’s life comes and by which consequently his soul interacts with the body. All these considerations make clear what ‘God spoke to Noah’ means. ‘Saying to someone’ means one thing, as in Gen. 1:29; 3:13, 14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1, while ‘speaking to someone’ means another. Here speaking to Noah’ means His being present, for the subject now is the regenerate person, who has had charity conferred on him.

AC (Elliott) n. 905 905. ‘Going out of the ark’ means freedom. This is clear from what has been stated already and from the point reached in the train of thought. Noah’s time in the ark surrounded by the flood-waters meant that he was in bondage, that is, he was tossed about by evils and falsities, or what amounts to the same, by evil spirits responsible for the conflict that accompanies temptation. From this it follows that ‘going out of the ark’ means freedom. The Lord’s presence entails freedom; one follows the other. The more the Lord is present the more free a person becomes, that is, insofar as love of good and truth is in him he acts in freedom. Such is the Lord’s influx by way of angels. On the other hand, the influx of hell by way of evil spirits brings with it a force and impulsion to dominate. Their whole intention is to subjugate a person to the point of making him nothing and themselves everything. When they are everything a person is one of them. Yet he is scarcely one of them but in their eyes a veritable nobody. Consequently when the Lord is freeing a person from their yoke and dominion, conflict arises. But once he has been set free, that is, been regenerated, he is led by the Lord through angels so gently that no yoke or dominion exists at all, for he is being led by what is joyful and pleasing, he is being loved, and he is being shown respect. This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew,

My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. Matt. 11:30.

It is quite the reverse with evil spirits. With them, as has been stated, a person is reckoned as nothing, and if they could they would be tormenting him from one moment to the next. This I have been given to know from considerable experience, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be presented later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 906 906. ‘You and your wife’ means the Church. This similarly becomes clear from the train of thought, as does ‘your sons and your sons with you’, which means truths, and goods joined to truths, residing with him. ‘You’, it is evident, means the member of the Church; and the fact that ‘wife’ means the Church, ‘sons’ truths, and ‘sons’ wives’ goods joined to truths has been shown in several places already, and so there is no need to pause over them here.

AC (Elliott) n. 907 907. Verse 17 Every wild animal of all flesh that is with you – birds, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth – bring out with you, and let them spread out into the earth and be fruitful, and multiply over the earth.

‘Every wild animal of all flesh that is with you’ means everything that has been made living within the member of this Church. Here, as previously, ‘birds’ means things of his understanding and ‘beasts’ those of his will, both of which belong to the internal man. ‘Every creeping thing that creeps over the earth’ means corresponding things of a like nature residing with the external man. ‘Bring out with you’ means their state of freedom. ‘And let them spread out into the earth’ means the action of the internal man into the external. ‘Be fruitful’ means increases in good, ‘and multiply’ increases in truth. ‘Over the earth’ means with the external man.

AC (Elliott) n. 908 908. ‘Every wild animal of all flesh that is with you’ means everything that has been made living within the member of this Church. This is clear from the fact that ‘wild animal’ refers to Noah, the member of this Church who has now been regenerated, and plainly has reference to the things that follow, namely to ‘birds, beasts, and creeping thing that creeps’, for the words used are ‘every wild animal of all flesh that is with you – birds, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth’. In the original language the word for wild animal strictly speaking means life or that which is living; but when used in the Word it means not only that which is living but also that which in one sense is not living, or a wild animal. Consequently unless a person is acquainted with the internal sense of the Word he cannot always know what is meant. The reason it carries both meanings is that the member of the Most Ancient Church, in humiliating himself before the Lord, acknowledged that he himself was not living, not even a domestic beast, but an animal living in the wild, for he knew that man is such when regarded in himself or as to the proprium. Consequently the same word means that which is living and also means a wild animal.

[2] As to its meaning that which is living, this is clear in David,

Your wild animals will dwell in it (the inheritance of God); You, O God, will strengthen the needy with Your goodness. Ps. 68:10.

Here, because he is to dwell in the inheritance of God, nothing else is meant by ‘wild animal’ than a regenerate person, and so, as is the case here, that which is alive in him. In the same author,

Every wild animal of the forest is mine, beasts on mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild animal of My field is with Me. Ps. 50:10, 11.

Here too ‘wild animal of the field with Me’, that is, with God, stands for a regenerate person and so for things with him that are alive. In Ezekiel,

In its branches all the birds of the air* made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth. Ezek. 31:6.

This refers to the formation of the spiritual Church and so stands for things with the member of the Church that are alive. In Hosea,

I will make a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field and with the birds of the air.* Hosea 2:18.

This refers to people who are to be regenerated, with whom a covenant is to be made. Indeed the application of ‘wild animal’ to that which is alive extends even to the cherubs or angels seen by Ezekiel being called four wild animals, in Ezek. 1:5, 13-15, 19; 10:15.

[3] That ‘wild animal’ in the contrary sense stands in the Word for that which is not alive, or a fierce wild animal, is clear from many places. Let just the following examples serve to confirm the point: In David,

Give not the soul of Your turtle dove to the wild animal. Ps. 74:19.

In Zephaniah,

The city has become a desolation, a place for the wild animal to lie down in. Zeph. 2.15.

In Ezekiel,

They will no more be a prey to the nations, and the wild animal of the land will not devour them. Ezek. 34:28.

In the same prophet,

Upon its ruin will dwell every bird of the air,* and on its branches will be every wild animal of the field. Ezek. 31:13.

In Hosea,

There I will devour them like a lion, the wild animals of the field will tear them apart. Hosea 13:8.

In Ezekiel,

To the wild animal of the earth, and to the birds of the air* have I given [you] for food. Ezek. 19:5.

The usage recurs fairly often. Moreover since the Jews were confined solely to the sense of the letter, and understood wild animal by ‘wild animal’ and bird by ‘bird’, they did not wish to know of, still less acknowledge, the inner contents of the Word, and so receive instruction. Indeed they themselves were so cruel, and such wild animals, that they took delight in not burying enemies they had slain in battle and in exposing them to be devoured by birds and by wild animals. These things also show what a wild animal man is.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 909 909. ‘Birds’ means things of his understanding and ‘beasts’ those of his will, [both of] which belong to the internal man; and ‘every creeping thing that creeps over the earth’ means corresponding things of a like nature residing with his external man. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘a bird’, dealt with already in 40 and 776, and of ‘a beast’ in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246. That ‘creeping thing that creeps over the earth’ means corresponding things residing with the external man is clear from this. Indeed ‘creeping thing that creeps’ here stands in relation both to ‘birds’, or things of the understanding, and to ‘beasts’, or those of the will. The most ancient people used to call the sensory powers and the appetites of the body ‘creeping things that creep’ because they are indeed just like reptiles that creep along the ground. They also likened the human body to the earth or to the ground. Indeed they actually called it the earth or the ground, as in the present verse where nothing other than the external man is meant by ‘the earth’.

AC (Elliott) n. 911 911.* As regards ‘creeping thing that creeps’ meaning corresponding things of a like nature residing with his external man, with a regenerate person external things correspond to internal, that is, they are conformable and subservient to them. External things are rendered subservient when a person is being regenerated, at which point he becomes an image of heaven. But before he has been regenerated external things have dominion over internal; and during that time he is an image of hell. Order entails celestial things governing spiritual things first, then natural things by means of spiritual, and lastly bodily things by means of natural. But when bodily and natural things have dominion over spiritual and celestial, order is destroyed. Once order is destroyed, man is an image of hell, and therefore through regeneration the Lord brings about the restoration of order; and once this has been restored a man becomes an image of heaven. In this way the Lord draws a person out of hell and bears him up to heaven.

[2] To make known the way in which the external man corresponds to the internal, let a brief explanation be given. Every regenerate person is a miniature heaven, that is, a replica or image of the whole of heaven, which also is why in the Word his internal man is called heaven. In heaven order is such that the Lord governs spiritual things by means of celestial, and natural things by means of spiritual. In this manner He governs the whole of heaven as one human being, and therefore heaven is called the Grand Man. Furthermore this same order exists with every individual in heaven. And when the same applies to man too, he likewise is a miniature heaven, or what amounts to the same, is the Lord’s kingdom, for the Lord’s kingdom is within him. In his case external things correspond to internal, that is to say, they are obedient to them, just as they are in heaven. For there are three heavens which are interrelated as one man – spirits constitute the external man, angelic spirits the interior, and angels the inmost, 459.

[3] It is quite the reverse with people who make life consist solely in bodily things, that is, in the desires, pleasures, appetites, and sensations of the body; with people, that is, who take no delight in anything other than that which accompanies self-love and love of the world, that is, which goes with hatred towards everyone who shows them no favour and does not serve them. Because with these people bodily and natural things have dominion over spiritual and celestial, not only is there no correspondence or obedience on the part of external things, but the total reverse exists, so that order is completely destroyed. And because order is thus destroyed they cannot be anything other than images of hell.
* There is no paragraph 910 in the Latin. Possibly a section which refers to beasts meaning things of the will has been accidentally omitted.

AC (Elliott) n. 912 912. ‘Bring out with you’ means their state of freedom. This is clear from what has been stated about ‘going out of the ark’ in verse 15 above meaning freedom.

AC (Elliott) n. 913 913. ‘Let them spread out into the earth’ means the action of the internal man into the external, while ‘be fruitful’ means increases in good, ‘and multiply’ increases in truth, and ‘over the earth’ means with the external man. This is clear from the train of thought and also from what has been stated and shown already about the meaning in the Word of ‘being fruitful’ as having reference to goods, and of ‘multiplying’ to truths. That ‘the earth’ means the external man has in like manner been shown already, so there is no need to pause and confirm these points. Here the subject is the action of the internal man into the external after a person has been regenerated. That is to say, when good starts ‘to be fruitful’ and truth ‘to multiply’, the external man is rendered correspondent or obedient. Until then this is not possible because the desires of the body are incompatible with goods, and the illusions of the senses with truths. The former annihilate the love of good, the latter the love of truth. The fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth take place in the external man – the fruitfulness of good in his affections, the multiplication of truth in his memory. The external man is here called ‘the earth’ into which mankind spreads out and over which they are fruitful and multiply.

AC (Elliott) n. 914 914. Verses 18, 19 And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. Every wild animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything creeping over the earth – according to their families they went out of the ark.

‘He went out’ means that this did in fact happen. ‘Noah and his sons’ means the member of the Ancient Church. ‘His wife and his sons’ wives with him’ means the Church itself. ‘Every wild animal and every creeping thing’ means his goods, ‘wild animals’ goods belonging to the internal man, ‘creeping things’ goods belonging to the external. ‘And every bird, and everything creeping over the earth’ means truths, ‘bird’ truths belonging to the internal man, ‘thing creeping over the earth’ truths belonging to the external. ‘According to their families means pairs. ‘They went out of the ark’ means, as previously, that these things did in fact happen; and at the same time a state of freedom is meant.

AC (Elliott) n. 915 915. ‘He went out’ means that this did in fact happen. ‘Noah and his sons means the member of the Ancient Church; and ‘his wife and his sons’ wives’ means the Church itself. This is clear from the train of thought, which implies that in this way the Ancient Church came into being, for these words form an end or conclusion to what goes before them. When the Church is being described in the Word it is described either as ‘husband (vir) and wife’ or as ‘man (homo) and wife’. When it is husband and wife ‘husband’ means the understanding part, which is truth, and ‘wife’ the will part, which is good. And when man and wife is used ‘man’ means love, or good that stems from love, and ‘wife’ faith, or the truth of faith. ‘Man’ accordingly means the essential element of the Church, ‘wife’ the Church itself. This applies throughout the Word. Here, since the subject up to now has been the forming of a new Church while the Most Ancient Church was dying out, ‘Noah and his sons’ means the member of the Ancient Church, and ‘his wife and his sons’ wives with him’ the Church itself. This is why they are here referred to in a different order from what they were in verse 16 previously. In that verse, where it is said, ‘Go out, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you’, ‘you’ and ‘wife’ are coupled together, as are ‘sons’ and ‘your sons’ wives’. Consequently ‘you’ and ‘sons’ mean truth, and ‘wife’ and ‘sons’ wives’ good. In this verse 18 however they do not come in the same order, the reason being, as has been stated, that ‘you and sons’ means the member of the Church, and ‘his wife and his sons’ wives’ the Church itself. It in fact forms the conclusion to what goes before it. It was not Noah but his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth who constituted the Ancient Church, as stated already. For three Churches in a sense formed this Ancient Church, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on. These Churches emerged as offspring of the one Church called Noah, and this is why the expressions ‘you and your sons’, and then ‘your wife and sons’ wives’ are used here.

AC (Elliott) n. 916 916. ‘Every wild animal and every creeping thing means his goods, ‘wild animal’ goods belonging to the internal man, ‘creeping things’ goods belonging to the external, while ‘every bird, and everything creeping over the earth’ means truths, ‘bird’ truths belonging to the internal man, creeping thing over the earth’ truths belonging to the external. This becomes clear from what has been stated and shown in the previous verse about ‘wild animals’, ‘birds’, and ‘creeping things that creep’. That verse mentions ‘creeping thing that creeps’, for the two phrases -‘creeping thing’ and ‘that which creeps’ – meant both the good and the truth belonging to the external man. Since this verse forms a conclusion to what goes before it, these attributes of the Church, namely its truths and goods, are added. These also indicate the character of the Church, namely that it was a spiritual one, and that having become spiritual it was a Church where charity or good was the chief thing. This is why ‘wild animal and creeping thing’ are here mentioned first, and ‘bird’ and ‘that which creeps’ after that.

[2] It is called a spiritual Church when its actions spring from charity, that is, from the good of charity, but never when it claims to have faith independently of charity. In that case it is not even a Church. For what does faith teach but that which charity teaches? And what other purpose does the teaching of faith have but that what it teaches may be practised? Merely knowing and thinking what it teaches is ineffectual. It is only the practice of what it teaches that is effectual. Consequently the spiritual Church starts to be a Church, or what amounts to the same, the member of the Church starts to be a Church, when its actions spring from charity, the substance of what faith teaches. What is the purpose of a commandment? Not merely that a person may know but that he may live according to what is commanded. And when he does so he has the Lord’s kingdom within him, for the Lord’s kingdom consists solely in mutual love and resulting happiness.

[3] People who separate faith from charity and place salvation in faith apart from the good works of charity are ‘Cainites’ who slay brother Abel, that is, charity. They are like birds hovering around a corpse, for that kind of faith is like a bird, and a person devoid of charity like a corpse. And as is very well known in the Christian world they also acquire a false (spuria) conscience to the effect that they may live as the devil does, may hate and harass the neighbour, may go on committing adultery all through life, and nevertheless be saved. What can sound sweeter to a person’s ears and more persuasive than the suggestion that he is able to be saved even though he lives like an utter brute? Even gentiles perceive that this is a falsehood, many of whom on seeing the way Christians live find their teaching abhorrent. This is clear also from the fact that nowhere else is the way people live more despicable than in the Christian world.

AC (Elliott) n. 917 917. ‘According to their families’ means pairs. This is clear from what has been stated already in Chapter 7:2, 3, 15, about them going into the ark ‘seven by seven of the clean, and two by two of the unclean’, whereas in the present verse it is said that they went out ‘according to families’. The reason no reference is made to seven by seven of the clean and two by two of the unclean but to ‘families’ is that the Lord has now brought all things into such order that they represent families. With a regenerate person goods and truths, that is, the things of charity and those of faith deriving from it, interrelate like blood relatives and relatives through marriage, and so they are like families descended from a single stock or parent, in the way they are in heaven, 685. This is the order which the Lord brings to goods and truths. The express meaning in the present verse is that every single good looks upon its own truth as one joined to it in marriage. And just as in general charity looks to faith, so in every individual part good looks to truth. For unless the general whole is the product of the individual part there is no general whole. It is from the individual parts that the general comes into being, and it is by virtue of that that it is called the general. With every person the situation is as follows: As is the person in general so are the most individual details of his affections and ideas. These are what he is composed of or what make him what he is in general. People therefore who have been regenerated become in the most individual details of their person what they are in general character.

AC (Elliott) n. 918 918. ‘Going out of the ark’ also embodies a state of freedom. This is clear from what has just been stated at verse 16 above about going out of the ark. The nature of the spiritual man’s freedom becomes clear from the fact that he is governed by the Lord by means of conscience. Anyone who is governed by means of conscience, that is, who acts according to conscience, is acting in freedom. Nothing is more repugnant to him than acting contrary to conscience. For him acting contrary to conscience is hell, while acting according to it is heaven. From this anyone may see that acting according to it is freedom. The Lord governs the spiritual man by means of a conscience for good and truth. This conscience, as has been stated, is formed in the understanding part of his mind, and so separated from things belonging to his will. Now because it has been totally separated from the things of his will, it is perfectly clear that a person never performs anything good from himself. And since every truth of faith derives from the good of faith it is clear that a person never thinks anything true from himself, but does so from the Lord alone. He does indeed seem to do these things from himself, but that is only the appearance. Such being the reality of the situation, the truly spiritual man acknowledges and believes it to be so. From this it is evident that the conscience which the Lord grants to the spiritual man is so to speak a new will, and thus that a person who has been created anew is provided with a new will and from this with a new understanding.

AC (Elliott) n. 919 919. Verse 20 And Noah built an altar to Jehovah, and took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

‘Noah built an altar to Jehovah’ means a representative of the Lord. ‘He took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird’ means goods that stem from charity, and [the truths of] faith. ‘And offered burnt offerings on the altar’ means all worship stemming from those goods and truths.

AC (Elliott) n. 920 920. In this verse the worship of the Ancient Church in general is described, that is, by ‘the altar and its burnt offerings’, which were the chief features of all representative worship. First of all however the nature of the worship of the Most Ancient Church must be mentioned, and from that how worship of the Lord by means of representatives arose. For the member of the Most Ancient Church there was no other worship than internal such as is offered in heaven, for among those people heaven so communicated with man that they made one. That communication was perception, which has been frequently spoken of already. Thus, being angelic people, they were internal men. They did indeed apprehend with their senses the external things that belonged to the body and to the world, but they paid no attention to them. In each object apprehended by the senses they used to perceive something Divine and heavenly. For example, when they saw any high mountain they did not perceive the idea of a mountain but that of height, and from height they perceived heaven and the Lord. That is how it came about that the Lord was said to ‘live in the highest’, and was called ‘the Most High and Lofty One’, and how worship of the Lord came at a later time to be celebrated on mountains. The same applies to all other objects. For example, when they perceived the morning they did not perceive morning time itself that starts the day but that which is heavenly and is a likeness of the morning and of the dawn in people’s minds. This was why the Lord was called the Morning, the East, and the Dawn. Similarly when they perceived a tree and its fruit and leaves they paid no attention to these objects themselves but so to speak saw man represented in them. In the fruit they saw love and charity, and in the leaves faith. Consequently the member of the Church was not only compared to a tree, and also to a tree-garden, and what resided with him to fruit and leaves, but was even called such.

[2] Such is the character of people whose ideas are heavenly and angelic. Everyone may know that a general idea governs all the particular aspects, and this applies to all objects apprehended by the senses, both those which people see and those they hear. Indeed they pay no attention to such objects except insofar as these enter into the general idea a person has. Take the person who has a cheerful disposition; everything he hears and sees seems to him to contain joy and laughter. But for one who has a sad disposition everything he sees and hears seems to be sad and dismal. The same applies to every other kind of person, for their general affection is present within each individual part and causes each individual part to be seen and heard in the general affection. Other features do not even show themselves but are so to speak absent or insignificant. This was so with the member of the Most Ancient Church. Whatever he saw with his eyes was for him heavenly, and so with him every single thing was so to speak alive.

[3] From this the nature of that Church’s Divine worship becomes clear, namely that it was internal and not at all external. When however the Church went into decline, as it did among its descendants, and that perception, or communication with heaven, began to die out, a different situation started to emerge. In objects apprehended by the senses they no longer perceived, as they had done previously, that which is heavenly, but that which is worldly. And the more they perceived that which is worldly the less perception remained with them. At length among their final descendants, who came immediately before the Flood, they apprehended nothing at all in such objects except that which was worldly, bodily, and earthly. Thus heaven became separated from mankind and communicated with it in none but an extremely remote way. Man’s communication now changed to a communication with hell, and from there he obtained his general idea from which, as has been stated, stem the ideas belonging to every individual part. In this situation, when any heavenly idea came to them, it had no value for them. At length they were not even willing to acknowledge the existence of anything spiritual or celestial. Thus man’s state came to be altered and turned upside down.

[4] Because the Lord foresaw that the state of mankind was to become such as this, He also provided for the preservation of doctrinal matters concerning faith so that from them people might know what was celestial and what was spiritual. These matters of doctrine were gathered together from the members of the Most Ancient Church by the people dealt with already called Cain and those called Enoch. This is why it is said of Cain that a sign was placed upon him to prevent anyone killing him, and of Enoch that he was taken by God. Concerning these two, see Chapter 4:15 – in 393, 394 – and 5:24. These matters of doctrine consisted exclusively in things that were meaningful signs and so things of a seemingly enigmatic nature. That is to say, they consisted in earthly objects which carried spiritual meanings, such as mountains, which meant heavenly things and the Lord; the morning and the east, which also meant heavenly things and the Lord; various kinds of trees and their fruits, which meant man and the heavenly things that are his; and so on. These were the things that their matters of doctrine consisted in, which had been gathered together from the meaningful signs of the Most Ancient Church. Their writings too were consequently of this nature. Now because they wondered at, and to themselves seemed to detect, that which was Divine and heavenly in such matters of doctrine, and also because of the antiquity of these, they began and were allowed to make such things the basis of their worship. This was the origin of their worship on mountains, in groves, and among trees, also of their pillars in the open air, and later on of altars and burnt offerings which ended up as the chief features of all worship. Such worship was begun by the Ancient Church, and from there spread to their descendants and to all the nations round about. These and many other matters as well will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 921 921. ‘Noah built an altar to Jehovah’ means a representative of the Lord. This is clear from what has been stated just above. All the religious observances of the Ancient Church were representative of the Lord, as also were those of the Jewish Church. But the chief representative in later times was the altar, and also the burnt offering, which, because it was made from clean beasts and clean birds, represented the same as that of which it was the meaningful sign. Clean beasts represented goods that stem from charity, and clean birds the truths of faith. And when offering these, members of the Ancient Church meant that they were offering gifts of those goods or truths to the Lord. Nothing else can be offered up to the Lord that will please Him. But their descendants, like the gentiles, and also the Jews, corrupted these offerings, for they did not even know that these had such a meaning. They confined worship solely to things of an external nature.

[2] That the altar was the chief representative of the Lord becomes clear also from the consideration that there were altars even among gentiles before all the other religious observances were established, before the Ark [of the Covenant] was made, and before the Temple was built. This is clear from Abram’s going on to the mountain east of Bethel, erecting an altar, and calling on the name of Jehovah, Gen. 12:8; from his being commanded to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on an altar, Gen. 22:2, 9, from Jacob’s building an altar in Luz, which was Bethel, Gen. 35:6, 7; and from Moses’ building an altar at the foot of Mount Sinai and offering sacrifice, Exod. 24:4-6. Each of these events took place before the establishment of the sacrificial system and before the construction of the Ark, the place where worship was at a later time celebrated in the wilderness. The fact that gentiles too had altars is clear from what is said about Balaam telling Balak to build seven altars and to prepare seven young bulls and seven rams, Num. 23:1-7, 15-18, 29, 30, and also from the command to destroy the altars of the nations, as in Deut. 7:5; Judg. 2:2. Consequently Divine worship involving the use of altars and sacrifices was not something new when it was established among the Jews. Indeed men were building altars, especially those for commemorative purposes, before they ever knew of immolating young bulls and other animals on them.

[3] That ‘altars’ means a representative of the Lord, and ‘burnt offerings’ consequent worship of Him, is quite clear from the Prophets and also in Moses where Levi to whom the priesthood was entrusted is the subject,

They will teach Jacob Your judgements and Israel Your law. They will put incense in Your nostrils, and whole (burnt offering) upon Your altar. Deut. 33:10.

This stands for the whole of worship. ‘Teaching Jacob His judgements, and Israel His law’ stands for internal worship, while ‘putting incense in His nostrils, and whole [burnt offering] on the altar’ stands for corresponding external worship, and so for the whole of worship. In Isaiah,

On that day a man will look to his Maker and his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel. And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands. Isa. 17:7, 8.

Here ‘looking to the altars’ clearly means representative worship in general, which was to be abolished. In the same prophet,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Jehovah. Isa. 19:19.

Here too ‘altar’ stands for external worship.

[4] In Jeremiah,

The Lord has abandoned His altar, He has abhorred His sanctuary. Lam. 1:7.

‘Altar’ stands for representative worship which had become idolatrous. In Hosea,

Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have been to him altars for sinning. Hosea 8:11.

‘Altars’ here stands for all representative worship separated from internal, and so stands for what is idolatrous. In the same prophet,

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.

Here too ‘altars’ stands for idolatrous worship. In Amos,

On the day I visit Israel for his transgressions, I will visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut off. Amos 3:14.

Here also ‘altars’ stands for representative worship that had become idolatrous.

[5] In David,

They will bring me to Your holy mountain, and to Your dwellings! Then I will go in to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. Ps. 43:3, 4.

Here ‘altar’ clearly stands for the Lord. So the making of an altar in the Ancient and the Jewish Churches stood for a representative of the Lord. Because worship of the Lord was carried out principally by means of burnt offerings and sacrifices, and these principally meant representative worship, it is clear that the altar itself means representative worship itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 922 922. ‘He took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird’ means goods that stem from charity, and the truths of faith. This has been shown already; ‘beast’ means goods that stem from charity, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, ‘bird’ the truths of faith, 40, 776. Burnt offerings were made from cattle, from lambs and goats, and from turtle doves and young pigeons, Lev. 1:2-17; Num. 15:2-15; 28:1-end. These were clean beasts, each one of them meaning some particular heavenly quality. And because they meant these things in the Ancient Church, and in subsequent Churches represented them, it is clear that burnt offerings and sacrifices were nothing else than representatives that go with internal worship, and that when they had been divorced from internal worship they became idolatrous. This any mentally normal person can see, for what is an altar but merely something made of stone? And what is a burnt offering and a sacrifice but the slaughtering of an animal? For worship to be Divine it has to represent some heavenly quality which the worshippers know and acknowledge and from which they worship the One they are representing.

[2] Nobody except the person who does not wish to understand anything at all about the Lord can be ignorant of the fact that these things were representatives of the Lord. It is the internal things, namely charity and faith deriving from charity, through which the One who is being represented has to be seen, acknowledged, and believed, as is quite clear in the Prophets, for example in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jer. 7:21-23.

Hearing or obeying His voice is obeying the law, the whole of which focuses on the one command that men should love God above everything else and their neighbour as themselves, for on these depend the Law and the Prophets, Matt. 22:37-40; 7:12. In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifice You host not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.* Ps. 40:6, 8.

[3] In Samuel, who said to Saul,

Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Sam. 15:22.

What obeying His voice involves is apparent in Micah,

Shall I come before Jehovah with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God. Micah 6:6-8.

These are the things that burnt offerings and sacrifices of clean beasts and birds mean. In Amos,

Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and gifts, I will not accept them, and the peace offering of your fatted ones I will not look upon. Let judgement flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:22, 24.

‘Judgement’ means truth, and ‘righteousness’ good. Both stem from charity and are the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the internal man. In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

From all these quotations the nature of sacrifices and burnt offerings when charity and faith are not present is clear. It is also clear from them that because ‘clean beasts and clean birds’ meant the goods that stem from charity and faith they also represented them.
* lit. in the midst of my viscera

AC (Elliott) n. 923 923. ‘And he offered burnt offerings on the altar’ means all worship stemming from those goods and truths. This is evident from what has been stated up to now. Burnt offerings were the chief features of the worship of the representative Church, as at a later time were sacrifices. These will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on. That burnt offerings taken as a whole mean representative worship is also clear from the Prophets, as in David,

Jehovah will send your help from the Sanctuary, and give you support from Zion. He will remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt offering as fat. Ps. 20:2, 3.

And in Isaiah,

Whoever keeps the sabbath from profaning it, I will bring them to My holy mountain. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar. Isa. 56:6, 7.

Here ‘burnt offerings and sacrifices’ stands for all worship, ‘burnt offerings’ for worship stemming from love, ‘sacrifices’ for worship stemming from faith derived from love. As is common in the Prophets, internal things are here being described by those that are external.

AC (Elliott) n. 924 924. Verse 21 And Jehovah smelled the odour of rest, and Jehovah said in His heart, I will curse the ground no more on account of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood. And I will no more strike every living thing, as I have done.

‘Jehovah smelled the odour of rest’ means that worship stemming from these was pleasing to the Lord. ‘And Jehovah said in His heart’ means that it would never happen again. ‘I will curse the ground no more’ means that never again would man thus turn himself away. ‘On account of man’ means as the people who belonged to the descendants of the Most Ancient Church had done. ‘For the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood’ means that the will part of man’s mind is totally evil. ‘I will no more strike every living thing, as I have done’ means that man would never again be able to destroy himself in that way.

AC (Elliott) n. 925 925. ‘Jehovah smelled an odour of rest’ means that worship stemming from these was pleasing to the Lord, that is to say, worship stemming from charity and from faith deriving from charity, meant by ‘a burnt offering’, as stated in the previous verse. In various places in the Word it is said that ‘Jehovah smelled an odour of rest’, especially that from burnt offerings, and wherever this occurs that which is pleasing or acceptable is meant. For references to His smelling an odour of rest from burnt offerings, see Exod. 29:18, 25, 41; Lev. 1:9, 13, 17; 23:12, 13, 18; Num. 28:6, 8, 13; 29:2, 6, 8, 13, 36; also from other sacrifices, Lev. 2:2, 9; 6:15, 21; 8:21, 28; Num. 15:3, 7, 13. They are also called ‘that which has been made by fire as an odour of rest to Jehovah’ which means that it stems from love and charity. In the Word when ‘fire’ or ‘made by fire’ is used in reference to the Lord and to worship of Him, it means love. And the same applies to ‘bread’, which also is why representative worship by means of burnt offerings and sacrifices is called ‘bread offered by fire to Jehovah as an odour of rest’, Lev. 3:11, 16.

[2] The reason why ‘an odour’ means that which is pleasing and acceptable, and so why in the Jewish Church an odour was also representative of that which is pleasing and is ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord, is that good stemming from charity, and the truth of faith deriving from charity, correspond to sweet and pleasant odours. What the correspondence itself is and the character of it becomes clear from the spheres in heaven which surround spirits and angels. The spheres there are spheres of love and faith, and are clearly perceived. These spheres are such that when a good spirit or angel, that is, a community of good spirits or angels, approaches, the nature of the spirit or angel – that is, of the community – as regards love and faith is, as often as the Lord pleases, instantly perceived. It is perceived even when they are a long way off, more so still when they are closer at hand. This is unbelievable but nevertheless perfectly true. Such is the communication in the next life, and such the perception. Consequently, when the Lord pleases there is no necessity to make extensive enquiries to discover the character of a soul or spirit, for it is recognizable the moment he approaches. It is to these spheres that spheres belonging to odours in the world correspond. That they do correspond in this way becomes clear from the fact that when the Lord pleases the spheres of love and faith are readily converted in the world of spirits into spheres of sweet and pleasant odours, which are clearly perceived.

[3] From these considerations it is now clear from where and why ‘an odour of rest’ means that which is pleasing, why in the Jewish Church an odour became a representative, and why ‘an odour of rest’ is here ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord. ‘An odour of rest’ is descriptive of peace, that is, of the pleasantness of peace. Peace in one embrace takes in every single feature of the Lord’s kingdom; for the state of the Lord’s kingdom is a state of peace. It is within the state of peace that all the happy states occur which flow from love and faith in the Lord. All that has now been stated shows not only what representatives were essentially, but also why the Jewish Church had an altar for burning incense in front of the veil and the Mercy-seat, why offerings of frankincense accompanied sacrifices, and also why so many fragrant substances were used in incense, in frankincense, and in the anointing oil too. It shows therefore what ‘an odour of rest’, ‘incense’, and ‘fragrances’ mean in the Word, namely celestial things of love, and spiritual things of faith deriving from these, in general everything pleasing that derives from love and faith.

[4] As in Ezekiel,

On My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, there all the house of Israel, all of it in the land, will serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions, and the first fruits comprising your gifts in all your holy acts. Through the odour of rest I will accept you. Ezek. 20:40, 41.

Here ‘an odour of rest’ has reference to burnt offerings and gifts, that is, to worship stemming from charity and attendant faith, which worship is meant by burnt offerings and gifts, and is consequently acceptable, which is meant by ‘the odour’. In Amos,

I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell your solemn assemblies* [as a pleasant odour], for though you offer Me your burnt offerings and gifts, they will not be accepted. Amos 5:21, 22.

This clearly means that which is pleasing or acceptable. The passage which describes Isaac’s blessing Jacob instead of Esau reads,

Jacob went near and Isaac kissed him. He smelled the odour of his clothes, and he blessed him and said, See, the odour of my son, like the odour of a field that Jehovah has blessed. Gen. 27:26, 27.

‘The odour of his clothes’ means natural good and truth whose pleasantness stems from their harmony with celestial and spiritual good and truth. Their pleasantness is described by ‘the odour of the field’.
* lit. cessations i.e. cessations from work

AC (Elliott) n. 926 926. It is clear from what follows that ‘Jehovah said in His heart’ means that it would never happen again. When the verb ‘says’ is used of Jehovah, nothing else is meant than ‘is so’ or ‘is not so’, or ‘happens’ or ‘does not happen’; for no other verb can be used of Jehovah than Is. The things which are said of Jehovah throughout the Word are there for the benefit of people who cannot grasp anything apart from that which comes within man’s actual experience. That is why the sense of the letter takes the form it does. The simple in heart are able to be taught from appearances as they belong to man’s actual experience, for their knowledge of things goes scarcely any further than that based on sensory experience; therefore it is their mental grasp of things that determines the way anything is said in the Word, as is the case here with the statement ‘Jehovah said in His heart’.

AC (Elliott) n. 927 927. ‘I will curse the ground no more on account of man’ means that never again would man thus turn himself away as the people who belonged to the descendants of the Most Ancient Church had done. This is clear from what has been stated already about the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. ‘Cursing’ in the internal sense means turning oneself away; see what has appeared already in 223, 245.

[2] The implications of these matters and of those that follow, namely that never again would man thus turn himself away as the member of the Most Ancient Church had done and that he would never again be able to destroy himself in that way, also becomes clear from what has been stated already about the descendants of the Most Ancient Church who died out and about the new Church called Noah. That is to say, the member of the Most Ancient Church was one in whom will and understanding formed one single mind, that is, with him love was implanted in the will part of his mind, and so at the same time faith, which occupied the second or understanding part. Their descendants therefore inherited a will and an understanding that made one. Consequently when self-love and resulting insane desires began to take possession of their will part where love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour had been previously, not only did the will part, or the will itself, at that point become utterly corrupted, but so also at the same time did the understanding part, or the understanding itself, all the more so when the final descendants immersed falsities in their desires and in so doing became the Nephilim. They became the kind of people therefore for whom no restoration was possible since both parts of their mind, that is, their whole mind, had been ruined.

[3] Foreseeing this however, the Lord also made provision for mankind to be rehabilitated in the following particular manner: Man could be reformed and regenerated as regards the second part of his mind, the understanding part, and a new will, which is conscience, could be implanted in him, by means of which the Lord might stimulate the good that stems from love or charity, and the truth of faith. In this way did the Lord’s Divine mercy restore man. These are the things meant in this verse by ‘I will curse the ground no more on account of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood’, and by ‘I will no more strike every living thing, as I have done’.

AC (Elliott) n. 928 928. ‘The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood’ means that the will part of man’s mind is totally evil. This is clear from what has just been stated. ‘The imagination of the heart’ has no other meaning. Man supposes that he has a will for good, but in this he is utterly mistaken. When he does good, he does not act from his own will but from the new will which is the Lord’s, and thus from the Lord. Likewise when he thinks and utters what is true, he speaks from the new understanding deriving from that new will, and so again from the Lord. For one who has been regenerated is an entirely new person who has been formed by the Lord. This also is why he is said to have been created anew.

AC (Elliott) n. 929 929. ‘I will no more strike every living thing, as I have done’ means that man would never again be able to destroy himself in that way. This is now clear from what has been said above. The situation is this: When a person has been regenerated he is withheld from the evil and falsity residing with him. At this point he does not perceive anything other than that he does good and thinks truth from himself. This however is an appearance or illusion, for he is being held back from evil and falsity, powerfully so. And being withheld from evil and falsity he cannot destroy himself. If that rein on him were slackened in the least or if he were abandoned to himself he would rush into every evil and falsity.

AC (Elliott) n. 930 930. Verse 22 During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.

‘During all the days of the earth’ means the whole of time. ‘Seedtime and harvest’ means the person who is to be regenerated, and consequently the Church. ‘Cold and heat’ means the state of the person who is being regenerated, which, as regards reception of faith and charity, resembles cold and heat, ‘cold’ meaning when faith and charity do not exist, ‘heat’ however when they do. ‘Summer and winter’ means the state of a regenerate person as regards things belonging to his new will, which by turns come and go in the way that summer and winter do. ‘Day and night’ means the state of the same person, that is, of one who is regenerate, as regards things belonging to his understanding, which alternate as day and night do. ‘They will not cease’ means that this will be so for the whole of time.

AC (Elliott) n. 931 931. That ‘during all the days of the earth’ means the whole of time is clear from the meaning of ‘day’ as a period of time, see 23, 487, 488, 493. Here therefore ‘days of the earth’ is the whole time the earth remains, or is inhabited. The earth ceases to be inhabited the moment the Church is no more. For when the Church is no more, no communication of man with heaven exists any longer, and when this communication comes to an end every inhabitant perishes. As stated already, the Church is like the heart and lungs in the individual. As long as the heart is sound, and also the lungs, the individual is alive; and the same applies to the Church and its relationship to the Grand Man, which is heaven in its entirety. This is the reason for the statement here ‘during all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease’. From this it also becomes clear that the earth is not going to last for ever, but that it too will come to an end, for the reference is ‘all the days of the earth’, that is, as long as the earth remains.

[2] People are however mistaken in their belief that the end of the earth will be one and the same event as the Last Judgement referred to in the Word, that is to say, where the close of the age, the day of visitation, and the Last Judgement, are described. For a last judgement befalls every Church when it has been vastated, that is, when no faith exists there any longer. A last judgement on the Most Ancient Church took Place when it perished, as it did among its final descendants who lived immediately prior to the Flood. A last judgement on the Jewish Church took place when the Lord came into the world. And a further last judgement will take place when the Lord comes in glory. This does not mean that at that time the earth and the world are going to be destroyed, but that the Church is destroyed and, as always happens, a new Church is raised up by the Lord at that time. At the time of the Flood the Ancient Church was raised up, at the time of the Lord’s Coming the primitive Church among gentiles; and the same will happen when the Lord comes in glory. It is also what ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ are used to mean.

[3] It is similar with everyone who has been regenerated and becomes a member of the Church, that is, becomes the Church. When he has been created anew his internal man is called ‘a new heaven’ and his external ‘a new earth’. In addition a last judgement awaits everybody when he dies, for at that point, according to how he has acted during his lifetime, his judgement points either to death or to life. The fact that the close of the age, the end of days, or the Last Judgement have no other meaning, and do not therefore mean the destruction of the world, is quite clear from the Lord’s words in Luke,

In that night there will be two in one bed, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding together, one will be taken and the other left. Two will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Luke 17:34-36.

Here the last times are called ‘night’ because no faith, that is, no charity exists. The fact that some will be ‘left’ however is a clear indication that the world is not going to be destroyed at that time.

AC (Elliott) n. 932 932. There is no need to confirm from the Word that ‘seedtime and harvest’ means the person who is to be regenerated, and consequently the Church, because the comparison and likening of the individual to a field and so to ‘seedtime’ and of the Lord’s Word to ‘seed’, and of what it accomplishes to ‘produce’ or ‘harvest’, occurs so frequently. This anybody can also gather from these same expressions which are part of his everyday vocabulary. In general the reference is to all men, and the fact that not one ever fails to have seed from the Lord sown within him, no matter whether he is inside the Church or outside of it, that is, whether he knows the Lord’s Word or whether he does not.

[2] Without this implanting of seed from the Lord nobody can do the least good thing. Every good that stems from charity, even among gentiles, is seed obtained from the Lord. Although with gentiles it is not the good of faith as it may be inside the Church, it can nevertheless develop into the good of faith. In fact gentiles who have led charitable lives, as they are accustomed to do in the world, on being instructed by angels in the next life embrace and accept teaching about true faith and embrace and accept faith that accompanies charity, far more easily than Christians. These matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on. In particular however the subject here is the person who is to be regenerated, that is to say, the Church will not fail to emerge somewhere on earth. This is the meaning here of ‘during all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest’. The statement that seedtime and harvest, which are the Church, will always be emergent somewhere on earth has regard to the content of the previous verse, that is to say, man will no longer be able to destroy himself in the way that the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church did.

AC (Elliott) n. 933 933. ‘Cold and heat’ means the state of the person who is being regenerated, which, as regards reception of faith and charity, resembles cold and heat, ‘cold’ meaning when faith and charity do not exist, ‘heat’ however when they do. This is clear from the meaning of ‘cold and heat’ in the Word where the two apply either to a person who is to be regenerated, or to one who has been regenerated, or to the Church. This matter is also clear from the train of thought, that is to say, from what comes before and after, for the subject is the Church. The previous verse dealt with the fact that man would no longer be able to destroy himself in that way, the present verse with the fact that some Church will always be emergent. First of all the situation when the Church comes into being is described, that is, when a person is being regenerated so that he may become the Church, and then the character of the now regenerate person is described. In this way the entire state of the member of the Church is dealt with.

[2] The state of a person when he is being regenerated resembles ‘cold and heat’, that is, a point when faith and charity do not exist and then when they do. This does not become readily clear to anyone except from experience, and indeed through reflecting on experience. Now because those who are being regenerated are few, and of these, few if any reflect, or are capable of reflecting, on the state of their regeneration, let a brief consideration be given to the subject. When someone is being regenerated he is receiving life from the Lord, for he cannot be said to have been living prior to that. The life that belongs to the world and to the body is not life; celestial and spiritual life alone is life. Through regeneration a person receives life itself from the Lord, and because he had no life previously he alternates between no life and life itself, that is, between no faith and charity and some faith and charity. Here no faith and charity is meant by ‘cold’, some faith and charity by ‘heat’.

[3] The implications of this are as follows: Every time a person is engrossed in his own bodily and worldly interests faith and charity do not exist, that is, it is a period of ‘cold’. For at such times it is bodily and worldly interests that are active, consequently things which are his own. And as long as a person is engrossed in these he is absent or far removed from faith and charity, with the result that he does not even think about celestial and spiritual things. The reason is that it is by no means possible with anyone for heavenly interests and bodily to exist side by side, for his will has been utterly corrupted. When however the bodily interests in a person and those of his will are inactive and quiescent, the Lord acts by way of his internal man and at that point faith and charity are present with him, which here is called ‘heat’. When he reverts to the body he is again living in ‘cold’, and when the body, or what belongs to the body, is quiescent and so to speak non-existent, he is living in ‘heat’. These two states come and go in turn. Man’s condition is such that with him celestial and spiritual things cannot co-exist with his bodily and worldly interests, but come and go in turn. This is the experience of everyone who is to be regenerated, and it continues for as long as his state is one of being regenerated. For in no other way can a person be regenerated, that is, from being a dead man become one who is alive, the reason being, as has been stated, that his will is utterly corrupted and therefore completely separated from the new will he receives from the Lord, a will which is the Lord’s and not the person’s own. From these considerations it now becomes clear what ‘cold and heat’ means here.

[4] The truth of this every regenerate person can know from experience. That is to say, when engrossed in bodily and worldly interests he is absent and far removed from things of an internal nature, and as a result he not only gives no thought to them, but also feels so to speak cold at even the thought of them. But when bodily and worldly interests are quiescent faith and charity are present with him. Experience can also teach that these states alternate with each other. This is why when bodily and worldly interests start to abound and seek to have dominion, he enters into distress and temptation, which persist until he has been brought back into that kind of state where the external man is conformable and subservient to the internal. The external man can never be subservient until it is quiescent and so to speak non-existent. The final descendants of the Most Ancient Church were unable to be regenerated, because, as has been stated, things of the understanding and those of the will with them constituted one single mind. Consequently things of the understanding were inseparable from those of their will, and so they were incapable of being engrossed by turns in celestial and spiritual interests and then in bodily and worldly. For them it was continual cold as regards heavenly things, and continual heat as regards evil desires, and so with them no alternation was possible.

AC (Elliott) n. 934 934. ‘Cold’ means the absence of love, that is, of charity and faith, ‘heat’ or ‘fire’ the presence of love or of charity and faith. This becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In John, in the letter to the Church at Laodicea,

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot I will spew you out of My mouth. Rev 7:15, 16.

Here ‘cold’ stands for no charity, ‘hot’ for much. In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, I will be still and I will behold in My place; like clear heat on the light, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. Isa. 18:4.

The subject here is a new Church that is to be founded. ‘Heat on the light’ and ‘the heat of harvest’ stand for love and charity. In the same prophet,

Jehovah’s fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem. Isa. 3:9.

‘Fire’ stands for love. Concerning the cherubim seen by Ezekiel,

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches, moving between the living creatures. And the five was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning. Ezek. 1:13.

[2] And concerning the Lord in the same prophet,

Above the firmament that was above the heads of the cherubim, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. And I saw as it were the shape of fiery coals, as the shape of fire, within it round about, from the appearance of His loins upwards. And from the appearance of His loins and downwards I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it. Ezek. 1:26, 27; 8:2.

Here ‘fire’ stands for love. In Daniel,

The Ancient of Days was seated. His throne was flames of fire, its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came forth from before Him, a thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. Dan. 7:9, 10.

‘Fire’ stands for the Lord’s love. In Zechariah,

I will be to her, said Jehovah, a wall of fire round about. Zech. 2:5.

This refers to the New Jerusalem. In David,

Jehovah makes winds His messengers, and flaming fire His ministers. Ps. 104:4.

‘Flaming fire’ stands for that which is celestial-spiritual.

[3] Because ‘fire’ meant love, fire also became a representative of the Lord. This is clear from ‘the five on the altar of burnt offering that was to be kept burning all the time’, Lev. 6:9, 12, 13, representing the Lord’s mercy. For this reason ‘before Aaron entered the place of atonement he had to burn incense with fire taken from the altar of burnt offering’, Lev. 16:12-14. And also, to signify that worship was acceptable to the Lord, ‘fire was sent down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering’, as in Lev. 9:24, and elsewhere. In the Word ‘fire’ also means self-love and its attendant desire. With that love heavenly love can never agree; consequently it is also said that Aaron’s two sons were devoured by fire because they employed strange fire, Lev. 10:1, 2. ‘Strange fire’ means all self-love and love of the world, and every desire accompanying those loves. In addition heavenly love seems to wicked people like nothing else than a burning and devouring fire; and this is why in the Word devouring fire is attributed to the Lord. The fire on Mount Sinai, for example, which represented the Lord’s love or mercy, was perceived by the people as a consuming fire, as a consequence of which they told Moses not to make them hear the voice of Jehovah God, or see the great Fire lest they died, Deut. 18:16. This is how the Lord’s love or mercy appears to people engulfed in the fire of self-love and love of the world.

AC (Elliott) n. 935 935. ‘And summer and winter’ means the state of a regenerate person as regards things belonging to his new will, which by turns come and go as summer and winter do. This becomes clear from what has been stated about cold and heat. The changes taking place in people who have yet to be regenerated are likened to cold and heat, while those that take place in those who have been regenerated are likened to summer and winter. That the person who has yet to be regenerated is the subject of the former phrase while one who has been regenerated is the subject of this latter is clear from the consideration that with the former ‘cold’ is mentioned first and ‘heat’ second, while here ‘summer’ comes first and ‘winter’ second. The reason is that the person who is being regenerated starts from ‘cold’, that is, from the point of no faith and charity; but once he has been regenerated he starts from the point of charity.

[2] The fact that a regenerate person experiences alternations, that is to say, at one point no charity resides with him and at the next some charity, is perfectly clear for the reason that with everybody, even the regenerate, nothing but evil exists. Everything good with him is the Lord’s alone. Because nothing but evil exists with him it is inevitable that he undergoes such changes, at one time living so to speak in ‘summer’, that is, in charity, and at another in ‘winter’, that is, in no charity. The result of such changes is that a person is being ever more perfected and so made ever more happy. Such changes take place with a regenerate person not only during his lifetime but also when he has entered the next life, for without changes like those of summer and winter as regards things of the will, and like those of day and night as regards things of the understanding, he is in no way perfected and made more happy. In the next life however people’s changes are like those of summer and winter in temperate regions and like those of day and night in springtime.

[3] The Prophets too describe these states as summer and winter, and as day and night, as in Zechariah,

And it will be, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea and part of them to the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be. Zech. 14:8.

This refers to the New Jerusalem, or the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth, that is, the state of His kingdom in both places, which is also called summer and winter. In David,

O God, Your is the day, Thine also is the night. You have prepared the light and the sun, You have fixed all the bounds of the earth, You have made summer and winter. Ps. 74:16, 17.

These words embody like matters. Similarly in Jeremiah who says that the covenant for the day is not to be broken, nor the covenant for the night, so that day and night come at their appointed time, Jer. 33:20.

AC (Elliott) n. 936 936. ‘Day and night’ means the state of the same person, that is, of one who is regenerate, as regards things belonging to his understanding, which alternate as day and night do. This is clear from what has just been stated. Summer and winter have reference to things of the will because like things of the will, they are manifestations of heat and of cold, whereas day and night have reference to things of the understanding because, like things of the understanding, they are manifestations of light and darkness. Since these matters are self-evident there is no need to confirm them from similar examples in the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 937 937. All this evidence shows the nature of the Word of the Lord in the internal sense. What appears in the sense of the letter is so gross that nothing more can be recognized than statements about seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night. Yet these phrases embody the arcana of the Ancient or spiritual Church. Such is the nature of the actual words in the sense of the letter, so that they are like very general vessels, every single one of which contains so many and such vast heavenly arcana that not even one ten-thousandth can possibly be brought to the surface. For while man can see scarcely anything, angels are enabled from the Lord to see with unending variety, in those very general words based on earthly images, the whole process of regeneration, and the state both of those who have yet to be regenerated and of those who are regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 938 938. THE HELLS – continued
Here, the hells of the avaricious; then the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert. Also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures.

Avaricious people are the most disgusting of all, giving less thought than anybody else does to the life after death, to the soul, and to the internal man. They do not even know what heaven is, for the level of their thought is lower than everybody else’s. Their thoughts they plunge and immerse completely in bodily and earthly interests. Consequently when they enter the next life they are for a long time unaware of the fact that they are spirits, but imagine that they are still entirely in the physical body. The ideas comprising their thought, which from their avarice have become so to speak bodily and earthly, are converted into direful delusions. And what is unbelievable but nevertheless true, the disgustingly avaricious in the next life seem to themselves to be working away in cells where their money is, and where they are infested by mice. But no matter how they may be infested they do not leave until they are tired out, and so at last roll out of those tombs.

AC (Elliott) n. 939 939. The ideas comprising the thought of people who have been disgustingly avaricious are converted into disgusting delusions. How disgusting is clear from their hell, which is deep down underfoot. A steamy vapour exudes from it like that coming from pigs whose bristles are being scraped off in a trough [of hot water]. It is here that the greedy have their dwelling-places. At first the appearance of those who enter that place is black. But then on being shaven like pigs they seem to themselves to become shining white. This is how they appear to themselves at this point, but a mark is nevertheless left after shaving to indicate their true character wherever they go. A certain black spirit who had not yet been taken down into his own hell because he was required to stay on longer in the world of spirits was sent down to where they were. He had not been so avaricious a person, but nevertheless during his lifetime he had gazed with envy and evil intent at other people’s wealth. As he drew near, the avaricious people there fled, saying that as he was black he was a robber who, being such, would murder them. For the avaricious flee from such people, fearing greatly for their own lives. At length however they learned that he was no such robber and they then told him that if he wished to become shining white he had merely to get rid of the hair covering him, like the pigs which were in full view, and he would then be shining white. But he did not wish to, and so he was taken up to be among spirits.

AC (Elliott) n. 940 940. The majority in this hell are Jews who have been disgustingly avaricious, and when they come among other spirits their presence is detected as the stench of mice. While on the subject of Jews let some account of their cities and of the robbers in the desert be given to show how wretched their condition is after death, that is to say, the condition of those who have been disgustingly avaricious and who, because of the arrogance bred into them, have looked down on others and imagined that they alone were the elect.

[2] As a result of their having conceived and confirmed for themselves during their lifetime the false notion that they would enter into Jerusalem and would possess the Holy Land – not wishing to know that by the New Jerusalem is meant the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth – a city appears to them when they enter the next life on the left side of Gehenna and a little to the front. Into the city they stream in solid masses. That city however is muddy and stinking, and is therefore called the filthy Jerusalem. There they rush in all directions through its streets, ankle-deep in sludge and mud, wailing and lamenting as they do so. This city, including its streets, they see with their eyes; it is a representation to them, as in clear daylight, of the kind of people they are. I have indeed seen that city frequently.

[3] A swarthy person coming out of this filthy Jerusalem once appeared before me, the gate seeming to be opened. Roving around him, chiefly on his left side, there were stars – in the world of spirits stars roving around a spirit mean falsities; the meaning is different when the stars are not roving around. He came up to me and pressed himself to the upper part of my left ear which he seemingly touched with his mouth so as to speak to me. No sound came from him as from others when he spoke; instead he spoke within himself, yet his speech was such that I heard and understood. He said that he was a Jewish rabbi and had been in that muddy city for a long time. He also said that the streets of the city were nothing but sludge and mud wherever you went, and that there was nothing else but muck to eat.

[4] I asked why it was so that he, being a spirit, should desire to eat at all. He said that he did eat, and when he desired to eat, he was offered nothing other than muck, which he moaned about exceedingly. Saying that he had not found Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he asked what he ought therefore to do. I told him certain facts concerning these three, and added that he was seeking them in vain. Even when he found them, I said, they could be no possible help whatever. In addition to mentioning other deeper matters I said that nobody at all ought to be sought except the Lord alone, who is the Messiah whom during their lifetime these Jews had rejected with contempt. I went on to say that He rules the whole heaven and the whole earth, and that help comes from none other. He asked eagerly and repeatedly, ‘Where is He?’ I said that He is found everywhere, and that He hears and knows us all. But at that point some other Jewish spirits dragged him away.

AC (Elliott) n. 941 941. To the right of Gehenna, that is, between Gehenna and the swamp, there is also another city, where better types of Jews seem to themselves to be living. For them however this city undergoes changes in accordance with the delusions they have. At one point it turns into country areas, at another into a swamp, and then back again into a city. Its inhabitants live in fear of robbers, but as long as they are inside that city they are safe. Between the two cities there is, it seems, a gloomy triangular-shaped section where there are robbers. They too are Jews, but are the most evil of them, who show no mercy to anyone at all whom they encounter. Out of fear the Jews call these robbers ‘master’, and the desert region where the robbers are they call ‘the land’. To protect themselves from the robbers they enter this city from the right where a good spirit is stationed at the far corner who receives all who come there. On arrival they bow to the ground and are let in beneath his feet, the formality before being admitted into this city. A certain spirit suddenly came up to me and I asked where he had come from. He said he was fleeing in fear from the robbers who kill, murder, burn, and boil people. He asked where it would be safe for him. I demanded where he was from, and from which country. But he did not dare, from fear, to answer other than the master’s land; for they call the desert ‘the land’, and the robbers ‘master’.

[2] Then the robbers arrived, who were extremely black. They spoke with deep voices like giants; and what is remarkable, when they draw near they strike a sense of great fear and horror. I asked them who they were. They said they were looking for plunder. I asked where they intended to store up their plunder. Did they not know that they were spirits and that they were unable to carry off or store up plunder, and that such things were the delusions of the evil? They replied that they were in the desert searching for loot and that they showed no mercy to those they encountered. They did at length acknowledge while with me that they were spirits, yet they still could not be brought to believe that they were living anywhere else than in the [physical] body. Those roving around in this fashion are Jews who declare that they kill, murder, burn, and boil, doing so to anybody they meet, Jews or friends regardless. This demonstrated their intentions, though in the world they did not dare to let these be made public.

AC (Elliott) n. 942 942. Not far from the filthy Jerusalem there is yet another city which is called Judgement of Gehenna, where people are who lay claim to heaven by virtue of their own righteousness. These also condemn others who do not live in accordance with their own delusions. Between this city and Gehenna there is what looks like a rather attractive bridge, pale or grey coloured, where a black spirit whom they dread prevents them from going across. Gehenna is seen on the other side of the bridge.

AC (Elliott) n. 943 943. People who during their lifetime have been intent on the pursuit of mere pleasures, whose sole desire has been to gratify themselves and to live grandly and sumptuously, paying attention only to themselves and the world, and supposing Divine things to be of no account – people who have been devoid of faith and charity – are first introduced after death to a life similar to the life that was theirs in the world. There is a place out in front on the left and quite deep down where it is all pleasure, games, dancing, dining, and chat. Here such persons are brought, and at that time they are not conscious of being anywhere different from when they were in the world. But the scene changes. After a while they are brought down into a hell beneath the buttocks which is sheer excrement, for the kind of pleasure that is purely physical is converted in the next life into excrement. I have seen them in that place carrying excreta around and moaning about their condition.

AC (Elliott) n. 944 944. Women who from low and squalid circumstances have become wealthy, and consequently from self-exaltation have surrendered themselves completely to pleasures, and to a life of luxury and ease, stretching out on couches like queens, taking their places at tables and dinner parties, and caring about nothing else, come grievously to blows when they meet in the next life. They pound and tear each other, and pull each other by the hair, and become like furies.

AC (Elliott) n. 945 945. It is different however with women who have been born to the enjoyments and pleasures of life and who have been brought up with those things since early childhood, as queens and members of the aristocracy are, and as the wealthy are too. If while living in luxury, grandeur, and splendour, they have at the same time lived in faith in the Lord and in charity towards the neighbour, they are among the happy in the next life. For the idea that heaven is merited by renouncing the enjoyments of life and by renouncing power and wealth, and so by suffering hardship is untrue. What the Word means by such renunciation is rating pleasures as well as power and wealth as nothing in comparison with the Lord, and the life of the world as nothing in comparison with heavenly life.

AC (Elliott) n. 946 946. I have spoken to spirits about the fact that few people probably are going to believe that so many things such as these exist in the next life, the reason for that unbelief being that man has no more than a very general and hazy concept, amounting to none at all, about his life after death, a concept which people have confirmed for themselves from the fact that they do not see the soul or spirit with their eyes. This applies to the learned too. Though they refer to the existence of the soul or spirit, their belief in these is even less than that of sensory-minded people because they cling to artificial words and terms which do more to obscure and even extinguish the understanding of things, and also because they study only themselves and the world, and rarely the common good and heaven. Spirits whom I have spoken to have been amazed that man should be like this, even though he knows that nature itself and each of its kingdoms contain so many wonderful and varied things of which he is ignorant. Take just the human ear, for example. A whole book could be written about the remarkable and unheard of aspects of it, in whose existence everybody has faith. But if anything is said about the spiritual world, the source of every single thing in the realms of nature, scarcely anyone believes it, on account, as has been stated, of the preconceived and confirmed opinion that it has no existence because it is invisible.

AC (Elliott) n. 947 947. 9

THE HELLS – continued

In this section other hells that are different from those mentioned already.

People who are given to deceit, who imagine that they can get everything by the use of deceitful practices, and who during their lifetime have confirmed themselves in this notion from the fact that they have been successful in these matters, seem to themselves to be living on the left in a kind of tun, called ‘the hellish tun’, with a covering over it, and a small globe standing on a pyramid-shaped base outside of it, which they imagine to be the whole universe under their supervision and control. This is exactly how it appears to them. Those of them who have persecuted innocent people by the use of deceit are in that place for ages, and I have been told that some have already been there for twenty ages (saecula).* When they are let out they have this kind of delusion in which they imagine that the whole universe is a globe which they walk around and tread under their feet, believing that they are the gods of the universe. I have seen them frequently and have talked to them about this delusion of theirs. but because they had been of such a nature in the world they could not be wrested from it. I have also noticed several times how they could corrupt people’s thoughts by cunning deception, and instantly divert their attention elsewhere and replace them with other ideas, doing so in such a way that one scarcely realized they were doing it. And they acted in an unbelievably natural way. Such being their nature, they are never allowed near men, for they inject their poison in so secret and hidden a fashion as to escape notice.
* Although saeculum is defined here as a decade it may also be used to mean a century or other longer period.

AC (Elliott) n. 948 948. There is also another tun on the left, as it seems to those who are there. In it there are certain spirits who during their lifetime had imagined that when they did evil they were doing good, and vice versa. Thus they had made good consist in evil. They stay in that place for some time, during which they are deprived of rationality. Having been deprived in this way they are like people asleep, and whatever they do at that time they are not held responsible for it. To themselves however they seem to be awake. When their rationality has been restored to them they become themselves once again and are as other spirits.

AC (Elliott) n. 949 949. To the left and in front there is a vault in which there is no light at all but utter darkness, and which is therefore called ‘the dark vault’. It contains spirits who have gazed with envy at other people’s goods, all the while intent on having them for themselves, and who, having no conscience, have also made off with them as often as they could under any plausible pretext. Some there are people who when they lived in the world held quite high positions, and who have made a reputation for prudence rest in underhand practices. In that vault they consult among themselves, just as they had done during their lifetime, about how to defraud other people. The darkness in there they call delightful. I have been shown and have seen as in broad daylight what those at length come to look like who are in that place and who have acted fraudulently. Their faces look worse than that of one dead, ashen like that of a corpse, and horridly pitted, the result of living in the torment of anxiety.

AC (Elliott) n. 950 950. There was a formation of spirits rising from the side of Gehenna up to an elevated position towards the front. I perceived from the sphere emanating from them (for the moment spirits start to approach their characters are perceptible merely from their sphere) that they regarded the Lord as worthless and despised all Divine worship. Their speech was undulatory. One of their number spoke against the Lord in a scandalous way and was instantly cast down towards one side of Gehenna. They were being carried along from a more forward region overhead, their intention being to meet those with whom they could join forces and bring others under their control. But they were stopped en route and were told to refrain from what they intended as this would be turned against them to their own harm. They accordingly came to a halt, at which point they could be seen. They had black faces and a white band around the head, which meant that they looked upon Divine worship, and thus the Word of the Lord too, as something black, useful only for restraining the common people by the bond of conscience. Their dwelling-place is near Gehenna where there are non-poisonous flying dragons, for which reason it is called ‘the dwelling-place of dragons’. But because they are not given to deceit their hell is not so grim. Such spirits also attribute everything to themselves and their own prudence, and boast that they stand in fear of none. They were shown however that just a hissing sound would frighten them and put them to flight. On hearing the hissing they thought in their fright that the whole of hell was rising up to carry them away, and from being heroes they suddenly became as women.

AC (Elliott) n. 951 951. People who during their lifetime have imagined themselves to be holy are on the lower earth in front of the left foot. On occasions they seem to themselves there to have a shining face, which is a product of such notions of their own holiness. But the outcome for them is that they are kept there, on the lower earth, in the greatest desire to rise up into heaven, which they imagine to be up on high. Their desire grows and is converted more and more into an anxiety which increases enormously till they acknowledge that they are not holy. When they are taken away from that place they are allowed to perceive their own stench, which is dreadful.

AC (Elliott) n. 952 952. A certain spirit imagined that he had led a holy life while in the world because people thought that he was holy, and so merited heaven. He said that he had led a devotional life and set time aside for prayer, imagining that it was sufficient if each individual concerned himself with and took care of his own interests. He also said he was a sinner and was willing to suffer even to the point of being trodden underfoot by others, which he termed Christian endurance, and that he wished to be the least in order that he might become the greatest in heaven. He was then tested to see whether he had performed or had been willing to perform any good action, that is, the works of charity, for anybody else. He said he did not know what these were, only that he had lived a holy life. Because this spirit had as the end in view his own pre-eminence over others whom he thus rated inferior to himself, he was seen first of all – because he imagined he was holy – in human form, all white down to the loins. Then he seemed to change, first to dark blue, after that to black; and because he wished to rule over others whom he despised in comparison with himself, he became blacker than anybody else. Concerning people who wish to be the greatest in heaven, see what has been stated already in 450, 452.

AC (Elliott) n. 953 953. I was conducted through certain dwelling-places of the first heaven, and from there I was allowed to see in the distance a vast sea heaving with large waves, stretching far out of sight. I was told that those on earth who have wished to be great, not caring at all whether they used fair means or foul so long as they gathered glory to themselves, have fantasies such as this and see a sea such as that in which they are afraid of being drowned.

AC (Elliott) n. 954 954. The delusions that have been present during a person’s lifetime are converted in the next life into different though corresponding delusions. For example, people who on earth have been violent and pitiless have their violence and lack of pity converted into unbelievable cruelty; and to themselves they seem to strike down any fellow spirits they meet and to torment them in various ways, in which they take so much pleasure that such exploits constitute their greatest delights. Those who have been bloodthirsty take delight in tormenting other spirits even to the point of spilling their blood; for not knowing otherwise, they imagine that spirits are men. At the sight of blood – such being their delusion that they actually see what looks like blood – they are extremely delighted. Avarice gives rise to delusions of seeming to be infested by mice and the like, depending on the form which avarice takes. Those who have found satisfaction in mere earthly pleasures, regarding these as their final aim, highest good, and so to speak their heaven, find it their highest delight to loiter in public latrines, where they find it most enjoyable. Some delight in urinous and stinking pools, others in mucky places, and so on.

AC (Elliott) n. 955 955. There are in addition various forms of punishment by which in the next life the evil are punished very severely. The evil incur them when they revert to their own foul desires. These punishments induce shame, terror, and horror over such things until the evil at length refrain from them. The punishments are various. In general there are punishments that involve being lacerated, those that involve being torn apart, and those that involve being put under veils, and many others.

AC (Elliott) n. 956 956. For those who are bent on revenge and who imagine they are superior to everybody else, rating all others as worthless in contrast to themselves, the punishment is that of being lacerated, as follows: They are disfigured in face and body until scarcely anything human remains to be seen. The face comes to be like a wide round cake. The arms look like rags; and with these stretched out, the one to whom they belong is whirled around on high, all the time upwards into the sky, while his character is declared in the presence of all, until shame seizes him to the core. In this condition, now a suppliant, he is compelled to plead for deliverance, and in terms dictated to him. After that he is taken away to the muddy stagnant pond near the filthy Jerusalem, in which he is rolled and plunged to become a picture of mud. And this is repeated several times until such desire for revenge is removed. In this muddy pond there are noxious women from the province of the bladder.

AC (Elliott) n. 957 957. People who during their lifetime have developed the habit of saying one thing and thinking another, especially those who beneath a show of friendship have gazed with envy on other people’s wealth, wander around and ask wherever they go whether they can stay with those persons they meet. They say they are poor, and on being welcomed they gaze enviously from innate desire on all that they see. When it is discovered what they are really like, they are fined and expelled from there. Sometimes they suffer dreadful tearings apart which vary according to the habit they have developed of deceitful pretence. Some suffer it over the whole body, others in the feet, others in the loins, others in the breast, others in the head, and others only round the region of the mouth. They are hammered this way and that, back and forth, in ways defying description. Violent crushings together of parts of the body and so wrenchings apart take place, causing them to believe that they have been torn to bits. Resistance is also added so as to intensify the pain. Such are the punishments that involve being torn apart, with many variations, to be repeated again and again at intervals until a dread and horror of deceiving by lying is ground into them. Each punishment inflicted takes something away. Those who did the tearing apart said that they took such delight in inflicting punishment that they had no wish to stop even if it meant their carrying on with it for ever.

AC (Elliott) n. 958 958. There are bands of spirits wandering about whom other spirits absolutely dread. They concentrate on the lower part of the back, causing agony by rapid movements to and fro which none can prevent and which are audible; and they direct their tightening and releasing action upwards in the shape of a cone with the point on top. Whoever is put inside this cone, especially near its apex, is wrenched apart pitiably in every single part of his limbs. Those who are put inside it and punished in this manner are deceitful pretenders.

AC (Elliott) n. 959 959. I once woke up in the night and heard spirits around me who wished to waylay me while I slept, but I soon became drowsy and had a miserable dream. I woke up once again and suddenly spirits who punish were present, which amazed me. They were punishing pitiably the spirits who had waylaid me while I slept. They had clothed them, it seemed, with physical bodies, which were visible, and with bodily senses, and they were tortured, now with seemingly physical bodies, by means of violent and repeated concussion of parts, accompanied by pains caused by resistance. It was in the mind of those who punished to murder them if they could – hence their extreme violence. For the most part the culprits were sirens, who are described in 831. The punishing went on for a long time and extended to many more bands about me. And what amazed me, though they desired to hide themselves, all those females who had waylaid me were discovered. Being sirens they tried out many tricks to escape punishment, but could not. At one point they wished to retreat surreptitiously into an interior nature; at another to suggest that they were people other than themselves; at another to divert the punishment on to others by means of transference of ideas; at another to pretend that they were infants whom the tormentors would be punishing; at another that they were good spirits; at another angels; and many more tricks besides. But it was all in vain. I was amazed that they should be punished so severely, but I perceived that such behaviour as theirs was quite outrageous, for it is imperative that a person should sleep in safety. Otherwise the human race would perish. This was why so great a punishment was necessary. I have perceived that the same also takes place around other people whom they try to take possession of by waylaying them in their sleep, though the person himself is not conscious of it happening. Indeed unless a person is allowed to talk to spirits and to be with them by an inward sensory ability, he can hear nothing, still less see anything of the sort, despite the fact that everybody has such occurrences taking place around him. The Lord protects man with utmost care while he sleeps.

AC (Elliott) n. 960 960. There are certain spirits given to deceit who while they lived in the world practised their deceptions in secret, some of whom in order to deceive have pretended by cunning devices to be angels. In the next life they learn in addition how to retreat into a less corporeal nature and to remove themselves out of everyone else’s sight. They imagine that by doing this they are safe from all punishment. But they, like the others, not only undergo the punishments of mutilation in accordance with the nature and wickedness of their deception, but also they are all lumped together. And when this happens, the more they desire to disband themselves or cut loose from one another the more tightly they are bound together. A more drastic torment accompanies this punishment because it answers to their more concealed deceptions.

AC (Elliott) n. 961 961. Some people out of habit, others out of contempt, in ordinary conversation use phrases appearing in Sacred Scripture as sayings with which to make jokes or be derisive, imagining that their jokes or derisive remarks are then more clever. But such thoughts and statements from Scripture ally themselves to the bodily and filthy ideas they have, and in the next life cause them considerable harm, for they reappear together with the things that are unholy. These people too undergo the punishments of mutilation until they lose such habits.

AC (Elliott) n. 962 962. There is also a punishment of mutilation as regards thoughts, which results in interior thoughts conflicting with exterior, which is accompanied by interior torment.

AC (Elliott) n. 963 963. A frequent form of punishment is ‘the superimposing of the veil’, which is this: Through the delusions to which those suffering such punishment are subject, they seem to themselves to be beneath a veil which extends quite a distance. It is like a clinging cloud which thickens in proportion to the delusion. Beneath the veil they scurry this way and that in a burning desire to break out, doing so at varying speeds until they are exhausted. This usually goes on for an hour, more or less, the accompanying torment varying according to the degree of desire to break loose. The veil is for spirits who, though they see the truth, are nevertheless unwilling because of self-love to acknowledge it, and are continually angry that the truth should be so. Such is the anxiety and dread experienced by some beneath the veil that they despair of all possibility of being set free. This I was told by one who had been set free from that place.

AC (Elliott) n. 964 964. There is also another kind of veil. In this case they are wrapped up in a cloth so to speak so that they seem to themselves to be tied hand, foot, and body; and an ardent desire comes over them to unwrap themselves. Because such a person has been wrapped round once only he imagines it is going to be easy to unwrap himself. But when he starts to do so the cloth gets longer and longer, and the unwrapping goes on endlessly till he reaches the point of despair.

AC (Elliott) n. 965 965. These details have to do with the hells and with types of punishments. The torments of hell are not, as some suppose, the gnawings of conscience, for people in hell have had no conscience and therefore cannot suffer the torment of conscience. Those who have had conscience are among the blessed.

AC (Elliott) n. 966 966. It should be realized that nobody in the next life undergoes any punishment and torment on account of evil he has inherited, but on account of the evils he himself has actually committed.

AC (Elliott) n. 967 967. When the evil are being punished, angels are always present who moderate the punishment and alleviate the sufferings of those poor wretches. They cannot however take away the sufferings. In the next life all things are counterbalanced in such a way that evil punishes itself, and if it were not removed by means of punishments such persons could not be confined for ever in any one particular hell; for if not so confined and punished they would infest the communities of the good and do violence to that order established by the Lord on which the safety of the whole world depends.

AC (Elliott) n. 968 968. Some have brought with them from the world the idea that they must not talk to the devil but flee from him. They have been informed however that nothing at all could harm people whom the Lord is protecting, not even if the whole of hell were surrounding them, both from without and from within. This I have been given to know from many amazing experiences. Such were those experiences that in the end I had no fear at all, not even of the worst of the hellish crew, to deter me from talking to them. I have also been granted such experiences so that I might get to know what the members of that crew are like. To people who have marvelled that I have spoken to them I have been allowed to say further that not only would this do me no harm but also that devils in the next life have previously been men who went through life in the world hating, getting revenge, and committing adultery. I have said that some of them at the time were highly respected people, and indeed that some of them are people whom I had known during their lifetime. I have also been allowed to say that ‘devil’ means nothing else than such a crew in hell, and in addition that people while living in the world have present with them at least two spirits from hell, as well as two angels from heaven, and that these hellish spirits though ruling among the wicked have among the good been overpowered and made subservient. Thus it is wrong to think of some devil existing since the beginning of creation other than those who have previously been men. When people have heard all this they have been dumbfounded and have confessed that they have held an altogether different opinion concerning the devil and his crew.

AC (Elliott) n. 969 969. In so large a kingdom where all human souls have been converging since the start of creation (almost a million from this planet every week) where each person’s character and disposition is different from everybody else’s, where all the ideas of everyone are communicated, and where nevertheless every single thing has to be, and is constantly being, restored to proper order, it is inevitable that countless things manifest themselves there which have never entered anyone’s head. Now since scarcely anyone has anything more than one vague concept of hell, as they have of heaven, these matters will inevitably strike them as strange and extraordinary, especially as they imagine that spirits do not have any sensory perception, when in fact these have keener sensory perception than men do. In addition to this, by devices unknown in the world, evil spirits produce within such persons sensory feelings almost the same as those of the body which are duller by far.

AC (Elliott) n. 970 970. The subject of vastations follows at the end of this chapter.

GENESIS 9

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the air,* even to everything which the ground causes to creep forth, and to all the fish of the sea; into your hands let them be given.

3 Every creeping thing that is living will be food for you; as the edible plant I have given all this to you.

4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its soul, its blood.

5 And I will certainly require your blood with your souls; at the hand of every wild animal I will require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of his brother man (vir) I will require the soul of man.

6 Whoever sheds man’s blood in man, his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply; swarm over the earth and multiply in it.

8 And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

9 And I, behold I, am establishing My covenant with you, and with your seed after you.

10 And with every living soul that is with you – with birds, with beasts, and with every wild animal of the earth with you; from all that are going out of the ark, even every wild animal of the earth.

11 And I will establish My covenant with you, and never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you and every living soul that is with you into the generations of an age.

13 I have given My bow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

14 And when I cloud over the earth with cloud, and the bow is seen in the cloud,

15 I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living soul in all flesh. And the waters will no more be a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow will be in the cloud, and I see it, to remember the eternal covenant between God and every living soul in all flesh that is on the earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I am establishing between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.

18 And Noah’s sons who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.

19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was overspread.

20 And Noah began to be a man (vir) of the ground, and planted a vineyard.

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunk, and he was uncovered in the middle of his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and pointed it out to his two brothers outside.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment and both of them put it on a shoulder, and went backwards and covered their father’s nakedness; and their faces were backwards, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and realized what his younger son had done to him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan, a slave of slaves will he be to his brothers.

26 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem, and Canaan will be a slave to him.

27 May God enlarge Japheth, and he will dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan will be his slave.

28 And Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years.

29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
* lit. bird of heaven (or the sky)

AC (Elliott) n. 971 971. CONTENTS

The subject that follows next is the state of a regenerate person – the lordship of the internal man and the subservience of the external man being dealt with first.

AC (Elliott) n. 972 972. That is to say, all things that belong to the external man have been made subject to the internal and are its servant, verses 1-3. But above all the person must take care not to immerse goods and truths of faith in evil desires, that is, take care not to confirm evils and falsities by means of goods and truths that belong to his internal man, for that course of action inevitably condemns him to death and brings punishment, verses 4, 5, and in so doing destroys the spiritual man, which is the image of God, with him, verse 6. If that course is avoided everything after that goes well, verse 7.

AC (Elliott) n. 973 973. Next the subject is the state of the man after the Flood, whom the Lord formed in such a way that He would be able to be present with him by means of charity. The Lord being present in this way, man would not from then on perish, as the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church had done, verses 8-11.

AC (Elliott) n. 974 974. After that, man’s state after the Flood – a man who is capable of receiving charity – is described by the bow in the cloud, which he resembles, verses 12-17. This bow has regard to the member of the Church, that is, to one who is regenerate, verses 12, 13. It has regard to every one in general, verses 14, 15, and to the person who is capable of being regenerated in particular, verse 16. So it has regard not only to the person inside the Church but also to him who is outside the Church, verse 17.

AC (Elliott) n. 975 975. Finally the subject is the Ancient Church in general. At this point ‘Shem’ is used to mean internal worship, ‘Japheth’ external worship corresponding to it, ‘Ham’ faith separated from charity, and ‘Canaan’ external worship separated from internal, verses 19-end. Wishing to investigate from itself the truths of faith, and to do so by means of reasonings, that Church first sank into errors and perversities, verses 19-21. As a result of such errors and perversities people whose worship is external separated from internal mock the doctrine of faith itself, verse 22, While those whose worship is both internal and also external deriving from internal place a good interpretation upon such things and make excuses for them, verse 23. People whose worship is external separated from internal are the lowest of all, verses 24, 25. But for all that, they are still able to perform inferior types of service within the Church, verses 26, 27.

AC (Elliott) n. 976 976. Last of all the duration of the first Ancient Church and its state are described by the years of Noah’s age, verses 28, 29.

AC (Elliott) n. 977 977. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The subject here being the regenerate person, let a brief discussion follow of the nature of a person who is regenerate in contrast to someone who is not. From this contrast the nature of each one may be known. With the regenerate person there is a conscience concerning what is good and true. From conscience he does what is good and from conscience thinks what is true. The good he does is the good of charity, and the truth he thinks is the truth of faith. With one who is not regenerate there is no conscience. If there is any it is not a conscience about doing good stemming from charity or for thinking truth deriving from faith. Instead it derives from some love involving self or the world, and is therefore a conscience that is false, or not genuine. With the regenerate person there is joy in performing anything according to conscience but anxiety when compelled to perform or think anything contrary to it, which is not the case with someone who is not regenerate. Most people do not know what conscience is, still less what performing anything according to conscience or contrary to conscience is. They know only of performing it in accordance with things favouring their own loves, which for them is the source of joy, while acting contrary to those things brings them anxiety.

[2] With the regenerate person there is a new will and a new understanding. This new will and new understanding are his conscience – that is, they comprise his conscience, by means of which the Lord works the good that stems from charity, and the truth of faith. With someone who is not regenerate there is no will but instead evil desire, and a resulting inclination towards all that is evil. Nor is there any understanding, only reasoning and a resulting decline into all that is false. With the regenerate person there is celestial and spiritual life, but with someone who is not regenerate only bodily and worldly life. Man’s ability to think and to understand what good and truth are comes from the Lord’s life by way of remnants, mentioned previously. And this also gives him the ability to reflect.

[3] With the regenerate person the internal man is master and the external the servant, but with someone who is not regenerate the external man is master, and the internal remains quiescent as though non-existent. The regenerate person knows, or is capable of knowing if he reflects on the matter, what the internal man is and what the external, whereas someone who is not regenerate is totally ignorant on the subject. Nor is he capable of knowing even if he did reflect on the matter, for he does not know what the good and truth of faith deriving from charity are. These contrasts show the nature of a person who is regenerate and of someone who is not, and that the difference between them is like that of summer and winter, or of bright light and thick darkness. Consequently the regenerate is a living man, while the unregenerate is a dead man.

AC (Elliott) n. 978 978. What the internal man is and what the external, few if any know nowadays. They imagine that these are one and the same, the chief reason being their belief that they do what is good and think what is true from their proprium; for the proprium carries such belief within itself. But the internal man is as different from the external as heaven from earth. When the learned as well as the unlearned reflect on the matter, they have no other concept of the internal man than of thought, seeing that it is something inward; and no other concept of the external man than of the body and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, seeing that it is something outward. But thought, which they imagine to belong to the internal man, does not in fact belong to the internal; for with the internal man resides nothing but goods and truths which are the Lord’s, and in the interior man conscience has been implanted by the Lord. Even the evil, indeed the most evil, possess thought, and people who are devoid of conscience have it too. From this it is clear that man’s thought belongs not to the internal man but to the external. And the fact that the body, and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, is not the external man is clear from the consideration that spirits likewise, who do not possess the [physical] body such as they had while living in the world, still have an external man.

[2] But what the internal man is and what the external nobody can possibly know unless he knows that in everyone there is a celestial and spiritual degree corresponding to the angelic heaven, a rational degree corresponding to the heaven of angelic spirits, and the interior sensory degree corresponding to the heaven of spirits. There are indeed three heavens, the same number as there are degrees with man. These heavens are quite distinct and separate from one another, which is why after death the person who has conscience is first of all in the heaven of spirits; after that he is raised by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits, and finally into the angelic heaven. This could not possibly take place if there were not the same number of heavens to which, and to the state of which, he is capable of corresponding. This has made clear to me what constitutes the internal man and what the external. Celestial and spiritual things form the internal man, rational things the inner or middle, and sensory things – not those of the body but those derived from bodily things – the external. And this applies not only to man but also to a spirit.

[3] Let me speak in terms used by the learned. These three are like end, cause, and effect. It is well known that no effect can possibly exist unless there is a cause, nor any cause unless there is an end. Effect, cause, and end are as distinct and separate from one another as exterior, interior, and inmost are. Strictly speaking the sensory man, that is, the one whose thought is based on sensory evidence, is the external man, while the spiritual and celestial man strictly speaking is the internal man. But the rational man comes in the middle between the two, and by way of this man – the rational – communication takes place between the internal man and the external. I know that few can grasp these ideas, the reason being that they live among, and think from, external things. This is why some equate themselves with animals and believe that when their bodies die they will be altogether dead. Yet it is when they die that they first start to live. In the next life people who are good lead first a sensory life in the world or heaven of spirits, then a more interior sensory life in the heaven of angelic spirits, and finally an inmostly sensory life in the angelic heaven. This latter or angelic life is the life of the internal man, about which hardly anything can be said that man is capable of grasping.

[4] The regenerate can know of the existence of that internal life only if they reflect on the nature of good and truth and of conflict. Actually that life is the Lord’s life with man, for the Lord by way of the internal man works the good of charity and the truth of faith within the external man. That which from this is perceived in his thought and affection is something general, containing countless details which come from the internal man but which a person does not perceive at all before entering the angelic heaven. Concerning the nature of this general something, see what has been told from experience in 545. These matters that have been stated concerning the internal man however, since they lie beyond the grasp of most people, are not vital for their salvation provided they know of the existence of the internal man and of the external, and acknowledge and believe that everything good and true comes from the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 979 979. These remarks concerning the state of a regenerate person and concerning the influx of the internal man into the external have been made in advance because the subject of this chapter is the regenerate person, the lordship of the internal man over the external, and the subservience of the latter.

AC (Elliott) n. 980 980. Verse 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

‘God blessed’ means the Lord’s presence and grace. ‘Noah and his sons means the Ancient Church. ‘Being fruitful’ means goods stemming from charity, ‘multiplying’ truths of faith, which they were now to receive as increases. ‘Filling the earth’ means residing with the external man.

AC (Elliott) n. 981 981. That ‘God blessed’ means the Lord’s presence and grace is clear from the meaning of ‘blessing’. In the Word, in the external sense, ‘blessing’ means being enriched with all earthly and bodily good. This is also how all people who keep to the external sense explain the Word, as Jews did in the past, and still do so today, and also as Christians do, especially at the present time. Consequently they have focused the Divine blessing, and still do, on wealth, on having plenty of everything, and on personal glory. But in the internal sense ‘blessing’ means being enriched with all spiritual and celestial good, a blessing which neither does nor can possibly exist unless it comes from the Lord. This is why ‘blessing’ means the Lord’s presence and grace. The Lord’s presence and grace carry such blessing within them. The expression ‘presence’ is used because the Lord is present only in charity, and the subject at this point is the regenerate spiritual man who acts from charity. The Lord is present with everyone, but as is a person’s distance from charity, so is the degree of the Lord’s presence, or so is He, let me say, more absent, that is, the Lord is more remote.

[2] The reason the expression grace and not mercy is used – a reason, I presume, that has remained unknown up to now – is that celestial people do not talk of grace but of mercy, while spiritual people talk not of mercy but of grace. This difference has its origins in the fact that celestial people acknowledge that the human race is wholly unclean, and in itself excrementitious and hellish, on account of which they plead for the Lord’s mercy – mercy being the appropriate word for people in this condition.

[3] Spiritual people however, though they are aware that the human condition is such, do not acknowledge it, for they still remain in, and love, their proprium; and therefore they find it difficult to make mention of mercy but easy to do so of grace. It is the different kind of humility existing with each that produces this verbal difference. The more anyone loves himself and imagines that he is able to do good of himself and so merit salvation, the less he is able to plead for the Lord’s mercy. The reason some [are able to plead] for grace at all is that it has become a commonplace expression. When used however it contains little that is the Lord’s and much that is a person’s own. This anyone can discover in himself when he uses the expression ‘the grace of the Lord’.

AC (Elliott) n. 982 982. ‘Noah and his sons’ means the Ancient Church. This has been stated and shown already, and is clear from what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 983 983. ‘being fruitful’ means goods stemming from charity, and ‘multiplying’ means truths of faith which they were now to receive as increases. This is clear from the meaning of both expressions in the Word where ‘being fruitful’, or bearing fruit, always has reference to charity, while ‘multiplying’ has reference to faith. See what has been stated already about the meaning of these two expressions in 43 and 55. And by way of further confirmation let the following places from the Word be brought forward: In Jeremiah,

Return, O estranged children; I will give you shepherds after My own heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and intelligence, and it will be that you will be multiplied and you will be fruitful in the land. Jer. 3:14-16.

Here ‘being multiplied’ manifestly stands for the growth of knowledge and intelligence, that is, of faith, while ‘being fruitful’ stands for goods stemming from charity. Indeed these words describe the establishment of the Church, in which faith or ‘multiplying’ comes first.

[2] In the same prophet,

I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their folds, and they will be fruitful and be multiplied. Jer. 23:3.

This refers to the Church which has been established, and so is ‘to be fruitful’ as regards the goods of charity and ‘to be multiplied’ as regards the truths of faith. In Moses,

Furthermore I will have regard for you and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you. Lev. 26:9.

The subject at this point in the internal is the celestial Church, and sense therefore ‘being fruitful’ has reference to goods of love and charity, ‘being multiplied’ to goods and truths of faith. In Zechariah,

I will redeem them, and they will be multiplied as they have been multiplied. Zech. 10:8.

It is evident from the promise that they are to be redeemed that ‘being multiplied’ here has reference to truths of faith.

[3] In Jeremiah,

The city will be built upon its mound, and out of them will come confession and the voice of those who are playing, and I will multiply them and they will not grow fewer; and its sons will be as they were of old. Jer. 30:18-20.

This refers to the affections for truth and to the truths of faith. Affections for truth are expressed by ‘confession and the voice of those who are playing’, while increases in truths of faith are expressed by ‘being multiplied’. Here ‘sons’ also stands for truths.

AC (Elliott) n. 984 984. ‘Filling the earth’ means residing with the external man. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the earth’ as the external man, dealt with several times already. In the case of someone who is regenerate the goods of charity and the truths of faith have been implanted in his conscience. And because they have been implanted by means of faith – that is, through hearing the Word – they lodge first of all in his memory, which belongs to the external man. Once he has been regenerated and the internal man is active, fruitfulness and multiplication follow too; goods that stem from charity reveal themselves in affections that belong to the external man, while truths of faith do so in his memory, where they grow and multiply in both places. Any regenerate person may know the character of this multiplying, for things of a confirmatory nature are coming in all the time, both from the Word and from the rational man, as well as from known facts, to confirm him more and more. It is the outcome of charity, with the Lord alone working by means of that charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 985 985. Verse 2 And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the air,* even to everything which the ground causes to creep forth, and to all the fish of the sea; into your hands let them be given.

‘The fear of you and the dread of you’ means the lordship of the internal man, ‘fear’ having regard to evils and ‘dread’ to falsities. ‘Upon every beast of the earth’ means over the desires that belong to the lower mind. ‘Upon every bird of the air’* means over falsities that go with reasoning. ‘Everything which the ground causes to creep forth’ means affections for good. ‘All the fish of the sea’ means facts. ‘Into your hands let them be given’ means possession of them by the internal man within the external.
* lit. bird of heaven (or the sky)

AC (Elliott) n. 986 986. That ‘the fear of you and the dread of you’ means the lordship of the internal man – ‘fear’ having regard to evils and ‘dread’ to falsities – becomes clear from the state of a regenerate person. A person’s state prior to regeneration is one in which the evil desires and the falsities that belong to the external man predominate all the time, which gives rise to conflict. But once he has been regenerated the internal man rules over the external, that is, over his desires and falsities. When it is the internal man that rules, the person has a fear of evils and a dread of falsities, for both evils and falsities are contrary to conscience, and to act contrary to conscience is abhorrent to him.

[2] It is not however the internal man that fears evils and dreads falsities, but the external; hence the statements at this point about the fear of you and the dread of you being upon every beast of the earth and every bird of the air*, that is, over all evil desires meant by ‘beast’ and over falsities meant by ‘bird of the air’.* This fear and this dread are seemingly the person’s own, but the reality is this: As stated already everybody has at least two angels with him through whom he has communication with heaven, and two evil spirits through whom he has communication with hell. When the angels rule, as is so with a regenerate person, the evil spirits who are present dare not do anything contrary to what is good and true, for they are at that time held in bonds. And when they do try to do anything evil or to utter what is false – that is, to activate it – some hellish kind of fear and dread instantly overtakes them. This fear and this dread are what a person feels within himself for things that are contrary to conscience. This also is why, as soon as he does or utters anything contrary to conscience, he runs into temptation and the gnawings of conscience, that is, into a kind of hellish torment.

[3] On the point that fear has reference to evils and dread to falsities, the situation Is this: The spirits that reside with a person are less afraid of practising evil deeds than of uttering falsities, the reason being that a person is born again and receives a conscience by means of truths of faith, and consequently spirits are not allowed to activate falsities. Indeed nothing but evil is present with every one of them, so that they are immersed in evil; their whole nature, and consequently everything they attempt is evil; and since they are immersed in evil and their own life within them consists in evil, their performance of evil is ignored when they are serving some use. But they are not permitted to utter anything false, for the reason that they may learn what is true, and in so doing may be corrected, so far as possible, to perform some inferior kind of service. But more concerning these matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be mentioned later on. It is similar with a regenerate person, for his conscience is formed from truths of faith. Consequently his conscience is a conscience for what is right. For him the very evil of life lies in falsity because falsity is the reverse of the truth of faith. But with the member of the Most Ancient Church who had perception it was different. He perceived evil of life as evil, and falsity of faith as falsity.
* lit. bird of heaven (or the sky)

AC (Elliott) n. 987 987. ‘Upon every beast of the earth’ means the desires that belong to the lower mind. This is clear from the meaning of ‘beast’ in the Word, where beasts mean either affections or else evil desires. Affections for what is good are meant by gentle, useful, and clean beasts, while affections for what is evil, that is, evil desires, are meant by savage, useless, and unclean ones – see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 776. Because here they mean evil desires they are called ‘beasts of the earth’, not beasts of the field. As for a regenerate person’s rule over evil desires, it should be recognized that people err very greatly and are in no sense regenerate who believe they are able to rule over evils from themselves. For a human being is nothing but evil, he is one mass of evils, and his whole will consists solely in evil. This was stated in the previous chapter – ‘the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his childhood’, 8:21. I have been shown by actual experience that a man or a spirit, and even an angel, regarded in himself, that is, as to his entire proprium, is vilest excrement, and left to himself breathes out nothing but hatred, revenge, cruelty, and most filthy adultery. These are the things that are his own, and are the things which constitute his will.

[2] This matter also becomes clear to anyone if he reflects, merely from the consideration that when a person is born he is the lowest thing alive among all wild animals and beasts. And when he grows up and becomes responsible for his own actions he would rush into every kind of ungodliness but for external legal restraints and the restraints he imposes on himself to the end that he may become pre-eminent and very wealthy. He would not rest content until he had made everyone throughout the world subject to himself and had raked in the wealth of everyone in it. He would spare no one except those who surrendered to him as his mere slaves. Such is the nature of everyone, though those people do not recognize it who do not have the opportunity and ability to behave in that way, or who are subject to the restraints mentioned above. But once the opportunity and ability have been provided and the restraints have been loosened, they would plunge themselves, as far as they were able, into such actions. Wild animals never demonstrate natures such as this, but are born into a certain natural order. Those that are savage beasts of prey do inflict harm on other animals, yet only in self-defence; and their devouring of other creatures is so that they may satisfy their hunger. And once that is satisfied they harm none. The human being however is altogether different. From this it is clear what man’s proprium is and what his will is.

[3] Since a person is just so much evil and excrement, it is clear that he cannot possibly from himself rule over evil. To say that evil can rule over evil is an utter contradiction. And this applies not only to ruling over evil but also over hell, for everybody is in communication with hell by means of evil spirits, and it is from that source that the evil residing with him is activated. From these considerations anyone may know, and he who is mentally normal may conclude, that it is the Lord alone who rules over evil residing with man and over hell residing with him. So that the evil residing with a person, that is, hell which is trying moment by moment to force its way into him and destroy him eternally, may be overpowered, a person is regenerated by the Lord and has a new will conferred on him, which is conscience, and through which the Lord alone works everything good. These considerations are matters of faith, that is to say, the considerations that man is nothing but evil and that everything good comes from the Lord. A person ought therefore not merely to know them but also acknowledge and believe them. If he does not acknowledge and believe during his lifetime, it is demonstrated to him convincingly in the next life.

AC (Elliott) n. 988 988. ‘Upon every bird of the air’* means over falsities that go with reasoning. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a bird’. In the Word birds mean intellectual concepts – gentle, useful, and beautiful ones mean intellectual concepts that are true, but savage, useless, and ugly ones intellectual concepts that are false, that is, falsities that go with reasoning. That they mean intellectual concepts, see 40, 776, 870. From this it is also evident that birds mean reasonings and the falsities that go with them. To leave no one in any doubt, the places quoted below, in addition to what is mentioned in 866 concerning the raven, will serve to confirm the point. In Jeremiah,

I will visit them with four kinds [of destroyers], with the sword to slay, with dogs to tear, with the birds of the air,* and with the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. Jer. 15:3.

In Ezekiel,

Upon its ruin will dwell every bird of the air,* and on its branches will be every wild animal of the field. Ezek. 37:13.

In Daniel,

At length upon the bird of abominations will come desolation. Dan. 9:27.

In John,

Babylon, a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Rev. 18:1.

And the Prophets declare many times that dead bodies would be given as food to the birds of the air* and to the beasts of the earth, Jer. 7:33; 19:7; 34:20; Ezek. 29:5; 39:4; Ps. 79:2; Isa. 18:6. This meant that they would be destroyed by falsities, which are ‘the birds of the air’**, and by evils or evil desires, which are ‘the beasts of the earth’.
* lit. bird of heaven (or the sky)
** lit. birds of heaven (or the sky)

AC (Elliott) n. 989 989. As regards ruling over falsities the same applies as with ruling over evils, namely that of himself no one is able in the slightest to rule over falsity. Since the subject here is the regenerate person’ s rule over evil desires, which are ‘the beast of the earth’ and over falsities, which are ‘the bird of the air’,* it should be recognized that nobody can possibly say he has been regenerated unless he acknowledges and believes that charity is the primary constituent of his faith and unless he is moved to love his neighbour and pity him. It is from charity that his new will is formed, and it is by means of charity that the Lord works good and truth deriving from it, and not by means of faith devoid of charity. There are people who practise the works of charity solely out of a sense of obedience, that is, because it has been so commanded by the Lord, but who are nevertheless not regenerate. Provided they do not presume any righteousness to lie in their works, these people are regenerated in the next life.
* lit. bird of heaven (or the sky)

AC (Elliott) n. 990 990. ‘Even to everything which the ground causes to creep forth’ means affections for good. This is clear both from what has gone before and also from the meaning of ‘the ground’ from which they are produced or creep forth. From what has gone before where the evils and falsities over which the regenerate person rules are the subject, it is clear that the affections for good which are given into his hands are therefore the subject here. And from the meaning of ‘the ground’ from which they are produced or creep forth – ‘the ground’ being in general the member of the Church and whatever constitutes the Church – it is clear that whatever is produced in the external by the Lord by way of the internal man is therefore meant here. The ground itself is situated in the external man – in his affections and in his memory. The reason why it is said, ‘Everything that the ground causes to creep forth’, is that it seems as though man himself produced goods. But that is the appearance. In reality all good derives from the Lord by way of the internal man, for as stated, nothing good or true exists unless it derives from the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 991 991. ‘All fish of the sea’ means facts. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a fish’. In the Word fish mean facts that spring from sensory evidence, for there are three types of facts – intellectual, rational, and sensory. All are implanted in the memory – or rather, in the memories* – and in someone who is regenerate are summoned from there by the Lord by way of the internal man. These facts which come from sensory evidence enter a person’s consciousness or perception during his earthly life, for they are the basis of his thinking. The rest, which are more interior, do not do so until he has shed the body and enters the next life. On the point that fish or creeping things which the waters produce mean facts, see what has been said already in 40; and that sea-monsters or whales mean general sources of facts, see 42. These points become additionally clear from the following places in the Word: In Zephaniah,

I will cause man and beast to cease, I will cause the birds of the air and the fish of the sea to cease. Zeph. 1:3.

Here ‘birds of the air’ stands for rational concepts, ‘fish of the sea’ for rational concepts of a lower order, that is, for human thought from factual knowledge derived through the senses.

[2] In Habakkuk,

You will make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. Hab. 1:14.

‘Making man like the fish of the sea’ stands for making him dependent solely on the senses. In Hosea,

The land will mourn, and every inhabitant will languish, even the wild animal of the field, and the birds of the air,** and even the fish of the sea will all be gathered together. Hosea 4:3.

Here ‘fish of the sea’ stands for factual knowledge derived through the senses. In David,

You have put all things under His feet, the beasts of the fields, the flying things of the air,*** and the fish of the sea, and that crossing the paths of the seas. Ps. 8:6-8.

This refers to the Lord’s dominion over man. ‘Fish of the sea’ stands for facts. That ‘seas’ means a gathering of facts or cognitions, see what has appeared already in 28. In Isaiah,

The fishermen will lament, and all who cast a hook into the river will mourn, and those who spread nets over the face’**** of the waters will languish. Isa. 19:8.

‘Fishermen’ stands for people who rely on sensory evidence alone and hatch falsities out of it, the subject being Egypt, or factual knowledge.
* i.e. in the interior memory and in the exterior memory. See 2469 and following paragraphs
** lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
*** lit. the flying thing of the heavens (or the skies)
**** lit. the faces

AC (Elliott) n. 992 992. ‘Into Your hands let them be given’ means possession of them by the internal man within the external. This is clear from what has been stated already and from the meaning of ‘hand’, dealt with already in 878. The phrase ‘into your hands let them be given’ is used because that is what seems to happen.

AC (Elliott) n. 993 993. Verse 3 Every creeping thing that is living will be food for you; as the edible plant I have given all this to you.

‘Every creeping thing that is living’ means all pleasures containing good, which is living. ‘Will be food for you’ means the accompanying delight which people were to enjoy. ‘The edible plant’ means very lowly manifestations of delights. Its being ‘given all to you’ means enjoyment on account of use.

AC (Elliott) n. 994 994. That ‘every creeping thing that is living’ means all pleasures containing good, which is living, is clear from the meaning of ‘creeping thing’ dealt with already. The fact that ‘creeping thing’ here means all clean beasts and birds is clear to everyone, for it is said that they are ‘given for food’. In their proper sense ‘creeping things’ comprise those which were the basest of all, mentioned by name in Lev. 11:27, 29, 30, and were unclean. But in a broad sense, as here, they are the living creatures that have been given for food. They are called ‘creeping things’ here however because they mean pleasures. In the Word, human affections are meant by ‘clean beasts’, as has been stated. But because no one perceives those affections except within his pleasures, so much so that he refers to them as pleasures, they are for this reason called ‘creeping things’ here.

[2] There are two kinds of pleasures – those of the will and those of the understanding. In general there are the pleasures of possessing land and wealth; the pleasures of positions of honour and those of service to the state; the pleasures of conjugial love, and of love of infants and children; the pleasures of friendship and of social intercourse; the pleasures of reading, writing, having knowledge, being wise, and many others. Then there are the pleasures of the senses; such as that of hearing, which in general is the pleasure taken in the sweet sounds of music and song; that of seeing, which in general is the pleasure taken in various things of beauty, which are manifold; that of smell, which is that taken in pleasant odours; that of taste, which is that taken in all the delicious and nourishing qualities of food and drink; and that of touch, which arises from further joyous sensations. Because these different kinds of pleasures are experienced in the body, they are called pleasures of the body. But no pleasure ever arises in the body unless it arises from, and is sustained by, some interior affection. Nor does any interior affection ever do so unless this in turn stems from a still more interior affection in which use and the end in view reside.

[3] These areas of affection, which are interior and properly ordered, starting with the inmost, are not discerned by anyone during his lifetime. The majority scarcely know that they even exist, let alone that they are the source of pleasures. Yet nothing can possibly arise in things that are external except from those that are interior and in order. Pleasures are simply ultimate effects. Interior things are not evident during life in the body except to those who reflect. It is in the next life that they first manifest themselves, and indeed in the order in which the Lord raises them up towards heaven. Interior affections together with their joys manifest themselves in the world of spirits; still more interior ones together with their delights do so in the heaven of angelic spirits; and yet more interior ones together with all their happiness in the heaven of angels. For there are three heavens, one interior to and more perfect and happy than the next, see 459 and 684. Such is the order in which these things unfold and enable themselves to be perceived in the next life. But so long as someone is living in the body, because his ideas and thought are constantly of bodily things, those that are interior are so to speak dormant because they are immersed in bodily things. All the same, to anyone who stops to reflect it becomes clear that the nature of all pleasures is such as are the affections ranged in order within them and that those pleasures derive their entire essence and character from those affections.

[4] Since the affections ranged in order within are experienced in outermost things, that is, in the body, as pleasures, they are therefore called ‘creeping things’. But these are simply bodily feelings that are the products of things within, as may become clear to anyone merely from sight and its pleasures. If interior sight does not exist, the eye cannot possibly see. The sight of the eye comes from a more interior sight, and therefore also man has the gift of sight just as much after his life in the body as during it; indeed he sees far better than when he lived in the body, though now he does not see worldly and bodily things but things that exist in the next life. People who have been blind during their lifetime have the gift of sight in the next life just as much as those who have been sharp-sighted. This also is why when someone is asleep he sees in his dreams just as clearly as when awake. With my internal sight I have been allowed to see the things that exist in the next life more clearly than I see those which exist in the world. From these considerations it is clear that external sight comes from a more interior sight, which in turn comes from sight still more interior, and so on. The same applies to each one of the other senses and to every kind of pleasure.

[5] In other parts of the Word pleasures are in a similar way called ‘creeping things’. In those places too a distinction is made between creeping things that are clean and those that are not, that is, between pleasures whose joys are living or heavenly, and pleasures whose joys are dead or hellish, as in Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,* and with the creeping things of the ground. Hosea 2:18.

Here ‘wild animals of the field, birds of the air,* and creeping things’ means the kind of things already mentioned that reside with man. This becomes clear for the reason that a new Church is the subject. In David,

Let heaven and earth praise Jehovah, the seas and everything creeping in them. Ps. 69:34.

‘Seas and creeping things in them’ cannot praise Jehovah but the things with man which they mean and which are alive, and so from what is living within them. In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, wild animal and every beast, creeping thing and winged bird. Ps. 148:10.

Here the meaning is similar. That ‘creeping things’ is used here to mean nothing other than good affections in which pleasures originate is clear also from the fact that creeping things among them were unclean, as will be evident from the following:

[6] In the same author,

O Jehovah, the earth is full of Your possessions; this sea, great and wide, containing creeping things and innumerable; they all look to You to give them their food in due season. You givest to them – they gather it up; You openest Your hand – they are satisfied with good. Ps. 104:24, 15, 27, 28.

Here in the internal sense ‘seas’ means spiritual things, ‘creeping things’ all things that live from them. Fruitfulness is described by ‘giving them food in due season and being satisfied with good’. In Ezekiel,

It will be that every living creature** that creeps, in every place the [two] rivers come to, will live, and there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. Ezek. 47:9.

This refers to the waters flowing out of the New Jerusalem. ‘Waters’ stands for spiritual things from a celestial origin. ‘Living creature that creeps’ stands for affections for good and the pleasures deriving from these affections, both those of the body and those of the senses. The fact that the latter get their life from ‘the waters’ which are spiritual things from a celestial origin is quite clear.

[7] Filthy pleasures as well, which have their origin in the proprium and so in its foul desires, are also called ‘creeping things’. This is clear in Ezekiel,

And I went and saw, and behold, every form of creeping thing and of beast, an abomination; and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed on the wall round about. Ezek. 8:10.

Here ‘the form of a creeping thing’ means filthy pleasures in which evil desires exist interiorly, and hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery within these. Such is the nature of ‘creeping things’, that is, the delights inherent in pleasures which originate in self-love and love of the world, that is, in the proprium. They are people’s idols because they consider them delightful, love them, hold them as gods, and in so doing worship them. Because those creeping things meant filthy things such as these, in the representative Church also they were so unclean that no one was even allowed to touch them. And anyone who did merely touch them was rendered unclean, as is clear from Lev. 5:2; 11:31-33; 22:5, 6.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)
** lit. living soul

AC (Elliott) n. 995 995. ‘Will be food for you’ means the accompanying delight which people were to enjoy. This becomes clear from the fact that any pleasure not only stirs a person’s emotion but also sustains him, like food. Pleasure without delight is not pleasure but something lifeless. It is from the delight that a pleasure has its being and gets its name. The nature of the delight however determines that of the pleasure. In themselves things of the body and of the senses are wholly material, lifeless and dead; but from the delights that spring from interior things ranged in order they receive life. From this it is clear that the nature of the life of interior things determines the nature of the delight inherent in pleasures, for delight has life within it. No other kind of delight has life except that which contains good from the Lord, for in that case it does so from the life of good itself. Hence the wording here – ‘every creeping thing that is living will be food for you’, that is, will be an enjoyment. Some people are of the opinion that anyone who wishes to be happy in the next life ought never to indulge in bodily and sensory pleasures, but ought to renounce all such things. They say that such bodily and worldly pursuits are what deter and withhold men from spiritual and heavenly life. But people who think in this way and who willingly reduce themselves during their lifetime to a miserable standard of living are ill-informed of the truth of the matter.

[2] Nobody is in any way forbidden to enjoy bodily and sensory pleasures, namely the pleasures of possessing land and wealth; the pleasures of positions of honour and of service to the state; the pleasures of conjugial love, and of love of infants and children; the pleasures of friendship and of social intercourse; the pleasures of the ear – the sweet sounds of music and song; the pleasures of seeing – things of beauty, which are manifold, such as nice clothes, attractive homes together with their furniture, beautiful gardens, and things of a like nature which as they blend together give delight; pleasures of smell – the pleasant odours; pleasures of taste – all the delicious and nourishing qualities of food and drink; and the pleasures of touch. Indeed, as stated, all of these are most external or bodily affections having their origin in interior affections.

[3] Interior affections, which are living, all derive their delight from good and truth, while good and truth derive theirs from charity and faith, and these in turn do so from the Lord, and so from Life itself. This is why affections and pleasures from this source are living. And because that is where genuine pleasures have their origins they are in no way denied to anybody. Indeed when this is their source, the delight that accompanies them is immeasurably greater than delight that is not from that source. The latter delight in comparison is filthy. Take for example the pleasure that goes with conjugial love; when its origins lie in truly conjugial love it is immeasurably greater than the pleasure that is not from that source – indeed, so much greater that people who dwell in truly conjugial love dwell in delight and happiness such as is heavenly, since it comes down from heaven. People also who belonged to the Most Ancient Church declared the same. The delight which adulterers gain from acts of adultery was to those people so detestable that even the thought of it filled them with horror. This makes clear the nature of any delight that does not come down from the true fount of life, which is the Lord.

[4] That the pleasures mentioned above are in no way denied anyone – indeed, far from being denied they are for the first time pleasures when they flow from their true origin – is also made clear by the fact that very many people who during their lifetime had power, position, and wealth, and enjoyed in abundance all pleasures of the body and the senses, are now in heaven among the blessed and happy. And with them now interior delights and happiness are living because they have had their origin in goods that stem from charity and in truths of faith in the Lord. And since these have originated in charity and faith in the Lord, they have looked upon all their pleasures from the point of view of use, which has been their end in view. To them the use itself has been exceedingly delightful, and from this has come the delight inherent in their pleasures. See what has been stated from experience in 945.

AC (Elliott) n. 996 996. ‘The edible plant’ means very lowly manifestations of delights. This becomes clear from what has been stated. Such delights are called ‘edible plants’ because they are merely worldly and bodily, that is, external. For, as stated, the pleasures that consist in bodily or most external things have their origins in interior delights ranged in order. Delights that are felt in the most external or bodily things are comparatively lowly. It is true of all delight that the more lowly it is the closer it gets to things that are external, while the nobler it is the closer it gets to those that are internal. Consequently, as has been stated, as in order the external things are rolled away or peeled off, the more pleasant and noble delights become, something which becomes quite clear from the fact that the delight inherent in someone’s pleasures during his lifetime is lowly in comparison with the delight that is his subsequently when he enters the world of spirits. Indeed it is so lowly that good spirits reject with utter disdain the delights of the body. Nor do they wish to go back to them even if they were granted all the delights existing in the whole world.

[2] The delight which these spirits enjoy becomes similarly lowly when they are raised up by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits, for at that point they cast away those interior delights and take on others more interior still. The same applies to angelic spirits – the delight which these have enjoyed in their heaven likewise becomes a lowly delight when they are taken up by the Lord into the angelic or third heaven. Since internal things in that heaven are living, and nothing else but mutual love reigns, the happiness there is indescribable. For interior delight or happiness, see what has been told from experience in 545.

[3] These considerations show what is meant by the statement ‘as the edible plant I have given all this to you.’ Because creeping things mean both pleasures of the body and pleasures of the senses, to which ‘edible plants’ has reference, the expression in the original language is one that means both edible plant and green plant, ‘edible plant’ in reference to pleasures of the will, which are from celestial affections, and ‘green plant’ in reference to those of the understanding, which are from spiritual affections. That ‘edible plants’ and ‘green plants’ mean things that are lowly is clear from the Word, as in Isaiah,

The waters of Nimrim will be desolations, for the grass has withered away, the herb has been consumed, and there is no green plant. Isa. 15:6.

In the same prophet,

Their inhabitants were shorn of power,* they were dismayed and filled with shame; they became plants of the field and edible grass plants, hay on the rooftops. Isa. 37:27.

‘Edible grass plants’ stands for that which is very lowly. In Moses,

The land, into which you are entering to take possession of it, is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come out; in it you may sow your seed and water it with your foot, like a garden of edible plants. Deut. 11:10.

Here ‘garden of edible plants’ stands for what is lowly. In David,

The wicked are suddenly cut down like the grass, and destroyed like the edible plant. Ps. 37:2.

Here ‘grass’ and ‘edible plant’ stand for what is very lowly.
* lit. short in the hand

AC (Elliott) n. 997 997. Its being ‘given all to you’ means enjoyment on account of use, which is ‘for food’, for whatever is given for food is for use. As regards use, the situation is this: People who are governed by charity, that is, who dwell in love towards the neighbour – from which love the living delight contained in pleasures derives – have no regard for the enjoyment of pleasures except on account of the use that is served; for charity does not exist if there are no works of charity. It is in the exercise of it, that is, in use, that charity consists. Someone who loves the neighbour as himself never experiences the delight of charity except in the exercise of it, or in use. Consequently the life of charity is a life of uses. Such life pervades the whole of heaven, for the Lord’s kingdom, being a kingdom of mutual love, is a kingdom of uses. Every pleasure therefore that springs from charity finds its delight in use, and the more pre-eminent the use the greater the delight. For this reason it is the very being and nature of a use which determines the happiness that angels have from the Lord.

[2] The situation with every pleasure is that the more pre-eminent its use is, the greater is its delight. Take one example, the delight of conjugial love: since the seed-bed of human society derives from it, and from that seed-bed the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, which constitutes the greatest use of all, it therefore contains, as has been stated, so much delight within itself as to constitute heavenly happiness. The same applies to all other pleasures, their differences depending on the excellence of their respective uses. Those uses are so many and various that they can scarcely be divided into genera and species. One use will relate more closely and directly to the Lord’s kingdom, or the Lord, another more remotely and indirectly. From these considerations it is also clear that all pleasures are available to man, yet only for the sake of the use they serve; and thus though they vary according to the use they serve, they share in and receive their life from heavenly happiness.

AC (Elliott) n. 998 998. Verse 4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its soul, its blood.

‘Flesh’ means what belongs to man’s will, ‘soul’ new life, ‘blood’ charity, while ‘not eating’ means not mixing together. Consequently ‘not eating flesh with its soul, the blood’ means not mixing unholy things together with holy.

AC (Elliott) n. 999 999. That ‘flesh’ means what belongs to man’s will is clear from the meaning of ‘flesh’ in its proper sense when used in connection with corrupt mankind. In general ‘flesh’ means the whole of mankind, in particular the bodily-minded – see what has been shown already in 574. And because it means the whole of mankind, and in particular the bodily-minded, it means that which is specifically man’s own, and therefore that which constitutes his will. That which constitutes his will – that is, the will itself – is nothing but evil. Consequently ‘flesh’, used in reference to mankind because it is such, means all evil desire or all craving. For, as shown several times already, the human will is nothing but evil desire. And because flesh had that meaning, the flesh the people craved in the wilderness had the same representation too. That craving is described in Moses as follows,

The mixed multitude that were among them had a strong craving, and so they wept repeatedly and said, Who will give us flesh to eat? Num. 11:4.

Here ‘flesh’ is plainly called ‘craving’, for it is said that ‘they had a strong craving, [saying,] Who will give us flesh?’ The same meaning is in like manner clear from what is said further on in that chapter,

While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before they had chewed it, the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague. And the name of that place was called Graves of Craving, for they buried there the people that craved. Num. 11:33, 34.

[2] Anyone may see that such a plague could not possibly have spread among the people simply because they had craved for flesh. It did not spread because of a craving for flesh, for this is quite natural for someone when he has been kept from eating for a long time, as was the case at that time with the people in the wilderness. There was a deeper – a spiritual – cause to the plague, namely, that those people were such as utterly loathed that which was meant by and represented by ‘the manna’, as is also clear in verse 6 of the same chapter. They desired solely such things as were meant and represented by ‘flesh’, that is to say, things belonging to their own will, which consisted of evil desires and were in themselves putrid and profane. It was because that Church, as a result of the representation of such things, was a representative Church that the people experienced so severe a plague. For the events that took place among the people were represented in a spiritual way in heaven. In heaven ‘the manna’ represented what is heavenly, and ‘the flesh which they craved’ the foulness of their own will. Consequently, such being their nature, they were punished. From these and other places in the Word it becomes clear that ‘flesh’ means what belongs to the will, here the merely human will. How filthy that will is, see under verse 2 of this chapter where ‘the beasts of the earth’ is the subject.

AC (Elliott) n. 1000 1000. ‘Soul’ means life. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘soul’ in many places in the Word. In general ‘soul’ in the Word means life in its entirety, the internal life, or that of the internal man, as well as the external, or that of the external man. And because it means life in its entirety it means the nature of the life present in the one to whom ‘soul’ has reference. In this case it has reference to the life of someone who is regenerate, which is separate from the merely human will. For as stated already, the new life which a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord is completely separate from the person s own will or proprium, that is, from the life that is his own, which though called such is not really life but death because it is the life belonging to hell. This is why ‘flesh with its soul which they were not to eat’ means flesh together with its soul, that is, they were not to mix together this new life which is the Lord’s with the evil or putrid life that is man’s, that is, with his own will or proprium.

AC (Elliott) n. 1001 1001. ‘Blood’ means charity, as becomes clear from many considerations, and so means the new will part which a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord. This new will part is identical with charity, for it is from charity that the new will takes form. Indeed charity, or love, is the essential element or the life of the will, for nobody can possibly say he wills something unless he takes delight in it or loves it. When people say they have something in mind this does not imply that they will it, unless will is implicit in thought. This new will which is one of charity is ‘the blood’ here. It is not the person’s own but the Lord’s residing with him. And because it is the Lord’s it must never be mixed together with things that belong to the person’s own will which, as stated, is so foul. This was the reason why in the representative Church people were commanded not to eat flesh with its soul, that is, not to eat the blood. That is to say, they were not to mix the one with the other. Because ‘blood’ meant charity it meant that which was holy, and because ‘flesh’ meant what belonged to the merely human will, it meant that which was unholy. And because these, being opposites, were quite separate, people were forbidden to eat blood. For in those times ‘the eating of flesh together with the blood’ was representative in heaven of profanation, or the mixing together of holy and unholy – which representation in heaven could do nothing else than strike the angels with horror. For at that period of time all things that took place among members of the Church were converted among angels – according to the meaning such things had in the internal sense – into corresponding spiritual representations.

[2] Since the nature of everything depends on that of the person to whom it refers, the same holds true with regard to the meaning of blood. When it refers to a regenerate spiritual person ‘blood’ means charity or love towards the neighbour. When it refers to a regenerate celestial person it means love to the Lord. But when it refers to the Lord it means the whole of His Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race. Consequently since ‘blood’ in general means love and what belongs to love, it means heavenly things that are the Lord’s alone, and so in reference to man it means the heavenly things a person receives from the Lord. The heavenly things that a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord are celestial-spiritual. These in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere.

[3] That ‘blood’ means heavenly things, and in the highest sense meant the Lord’s Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race, becomes clear from the sacredness that the Jewish representative Church was required to attach to blood. For this reason blood was called ‘the blood of the covenant’. It was sprinkled over the people, and also, together with the anointing oil, over Aaron and his sons. And [the blood] of every burnt offering and sacrifice was sprinkled over and around the altar. For these details, see Exod. 12:7, 13, 22, 23; 24:6, 8; Lev. 1:5, 11, 15; 4:6, 7, 17, 18, 25, 30, 34; 5:9; 16:12-15; 18, 19; Num. 18:17; Deut. 12:27.

[4] Because blood was held to be so holy, and what belonged to the merely human will was so unholy, they were strictly forbidden to eat blood because this represented the profanation of what is holy, as in Moses,

It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwelling-places, that you shall not eat any fat or any blood. Lev. 3:17.

‘Fat’ stands for celestial life, and ‘blood’ in this instance for celestial-spiritual life. The celestial-spiritual is that which is spiritual having a celestial origin, as with the Most Ancient Church. With them love to the Lord was the celestial because this had been implanted in their will, while that which was celestial-spiritual with them was faith flowing from it, dealt with in 30-38, 337, 793, 398. But with a spiritual person the celestial does not exist, only the celestial-spiritual, because charity is implanted in the understanding part of his mind. In the same author,

As for anyone from the house of Israel or from the sojourner sojourning among them who eats any blood, I will set My face* against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people, for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls, for the blood itself will make atonement by reason of the soul. The soul of all flesh is the blood of it; everyone eating it shall be cut off. Lev. 17:10, 11, 14.

Here it is plainly stated that the soul of the flesh is in the blood and that the soul of [all] flesh is the blood, or that which is celestial, that is, that which is holy and is the Lord’s.

[5] In the same author,

Be sure that you do not eat blood, for the blood is the soul and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh. Deut. 12:23-25.

From these words similarly it is clear that the blood is called the soul, that is, celestial life, or that which is celestial, and was represented by the burnt offerings and sacrifices of that Church. In a similar way, it was the requirement not to mingle that which was celestial – the Lord’s Proprium, which alone is celestial and holy – with man’s proprium, which is unholy, that was represented also by their being forbidden to make a sacrifice of, that is, to offer, the blood of the sacrifice with anything leavened, Exod. 23:18; 34:25. That which was ‘leavened’ meant that which was corrupt and filthy.

[6] The reason Why ‘blood’ is called the soul and means the holiness of charity, and why the holiness of love was represented in the Jewish Church by ‘blood’, is that the life of the body lies in the blood. And because the life of the body lies in the blood it is its ultimate soul, so that the blood therefore may be called the bodily soul, or the place where a person’s bodily life resides. And because in representative Churches internal things were represented by external, the soul or celestial life was therefore represented by ‘the blood’.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 1002 1002. ‘Not eating’ means not mixing together. This follows from what has been said above. Regarded in itself eating animal flesh is something profane, for in most ancient times people never ate the flesh of any beast or bird, but only different kinds of grain, especially wheaten bread, also the fruit of trees, vegetables, milk, and milk products such as butter. Slaughtering living creatures and eating their flesh was to them abominable, akin to the behaviour of wild animals. Service and use alone was demanded of those creatures, as is clear from Gen. 1:29, 30. But in the process of time when mankind began to be as savage as wild animals, indeed more savage, they first began to slaughter living creatures and eat their flesh. And because man had become such, he was permitted to do so and is still permitted today. And insofar as he does so from conscience, it is quite legitimate, for his conscience is given form from all those things he presumes to be true and so legitimate. Consequently nobody nowadays stands in any sense condemned because he eats meat.

AC (Elliott) n. 1003 1003. That ‘not eating flesh with its soul, its blood’ means not mixing together unholy things with holy is now clear from what has been stated above. Unholy things are in no way mixed with holy through somebody’s eating blood along with the flesh, as also the Lord clearly teaches in Matthew,

Not what goes into the mouth renders a man unclean, but what comes out of the mouth, this renders the man unclean. For the things which come out of the mouth come out of the heart. Matt. 15:11, 17-20.

It was prohibited in the Jewish Church however because in heaven, as stated, eating blood along with the flesh in those days represented profanation. Everything that took place in that Church was converted in heaven into corresponding representatives. Blood in particular was converted into that which is holy and celestial, while flesh, with the exception of that offered in sacrifices, was converted into that which is unholy, because, as has been shown, it meant evil desires. The mere eating of the two in those times was converted into a mixing together of what is holy and of what is unholy. This was why the practice was so strictly forbidden in those days. But after the Lord’s Coming when external rites were abolished and so representatives came to an end, such things ceased after that to be converted in heaven into corresponding representatives. For when a man becomes internal, and has been informed concerning internal things, external things are of no importance to him. He is now aware of what holiness really is, namely, charity and faith deriving from it. Things with him which are external he now regards from the viewpoint of charity and faith, that is to say, he looks to see how much charity and faith in the Lord external things contain. This is why since the Lord’s Coming heaven has looked at mankind not from the viewpoint of external things but of internal. And if anyone is looked at from the viewpoint of those things that are external it is because he dwells in simplicity, and in innocence and charity within that simplicity. These are present with him from the Lord in external things, that is, in his external worship, though he himself is not actually aware of this.

AC (Elliott) n. 1004 1004. Verse 5 And I will certainly require your blood with your souls; at the hand of every wild animal I will require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of his brother man (vir) I will require the soul of man. ‘Requiring your blood with your souls’ means that violence done to charity will punish itself, ‘your blood’ here meaning violence, ‘souls’ people who do violence. ‘At the hand of every wild animal’ means from everything violent residing with a person. ‘At the hand of man’ is from his entire will. ‘At the hand of brother man’ is from his entire understanding. ‘Requiring the soul of man’ is avenging profanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 1005 1005. That ‘requiring your blood with your souls’ means that violence done to charity will punish itself, ‘blood’ meaning violence, and ‘souls’ people who do violence, is clear from what comes before and after, and also from the meaning of ‘blood’ in the contrary sense, as well as from the meaning of ‘soul’ in the contrary sense. First from what comes before in the previous verse referring to the eating of blood, which, as shown, meant profanation, and from what comes after in the next verse referring to the shedding of blood, it is consequently clear that the subject here is the state and the punishment of one who mixes holy things with unholy. It is further clear from the meaning of ‘blood’ in the contrary sense, in that ‘blood’ in the genuine sense means that which is celestial and in reference to a regenerate spiritual person means charity – which constitutes the celestial in his case – but in the contrary sense means violence done to charity, and therefore that which is contrary to charity, namely all hatred, all revenge, all cruelty, and especially profanation, as becomes clear from the places in the Word that are quoted in 374 and 376. Finally it is clear from the meaning of ‘soul’ in the contrary sense, in that in the Word ‘soul’ means life, in general, and so everybody who lives, but also means, since a person’s life is by nature what he himself is, any individual who does violence. This may be confirmed from many parts of the Word, but for the moment let solely the following from Moses do so,

He who eats blood, I will set My face* against the soul eating blood, and I will cut him off from among his people, for the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls, for the blood itself will make atonement by reason of the soul. Lev. 17:10, 11, 14.

Here ‘soul’ stands for life in three different senses, as it does many times elsewhere. The fact that violence done to charity will punish itself will be clear from what follows.
* lit. faces

AC (Elliott) n. 1006 1006. ‘At the hand of every wild animal’ means from everything violent residing with a person. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a wild animal’. In the Word ‘wild animal’ means that which is living, as shown in 908. But in the contrary sense ‘wild animal’ means that which is like a wild animal, and so whatever is savage in man. This too has been shown already. Consequently ‘wild animal’ means someone whose life is such, that is to say, a violent person or one who does violence to charity; for he is indeed like a wild animal. Love and charity make a person human, while hatred, revenge, and cruelty make a wild animal of him.

AC (Elliott) n. 1007 1007. ‘At the hand of man’ means from his entire will, and ‘at the hand of brother man’ from his entire understanding. This is clear from the meaning of ‘man’ (homo), for the essential element and life of a person is his will – indeed the character of the will determines that of the person; and from the meaning of ‘brother man’ (vir), for where the understanding resides in man it is called ‘brother man’, as shown already in 367. Whether the understanding residing there is true, spurious, or false, it is still called ‘brother man’. In fact the understanding is called ‘a man’ (vir), 158, 265, and ‘the brother’ of the will, 367. The reason why a defiled will and a defiled understanding are here called ‘a man’ (homo) and ‘brother man’ (vir) is that the subject here is profanation, the mere mention and consequent representation of which is not tolerated in heaven but instantly rejected with disgust. This is why such mild expressions are employed here. The sense of the words of the verse can be taken two different ways so to speak, so as to prevent those in heaven knowing that this verse contains such matters.

AC (Elliott) n. 1008 1008. ‘Requiring the soul of man’ is avenging profanation. This is clear from what has been stated in the previous verse and in the present one, for the subject is the eating of blood, which means profanation. Few know what profanation is, still less what the penalty for it may be in the next life. Profanation takes many forms. A person who totally denies the truths of faith does not profane them any more than gentiles do who live outside of the Church and outside of all knowledge of them. That person profanes however who does know the truths of faith, and still more one who acknowledges them, bears them on his lips, proclaims them, and persuades others of the truth of them, while at the same time he leads a life of hatred, revenge, cruelty, robbery, and adultery, and confirms such behaviour in himself by many statements which he scrapes together from the Word. He profanes by perverting the truths of faith, and so immerses them in those foul deeds. This is the person who profanes, and these are the things that above all else spell death to a person. That they spell death becomes clear from the fact that in the next life unholy things are completely separated from holy, the unholy being in hell, and the holy in heaven. When this type of person enters the next life, every idea within his thought contains holy things clinging to unholy, as it was during his lifetime. There he is unable to produce one idea of what is holy without the unholy that clings to it being seen clear as daylight; for such perception of another person’s ideas exists in the next life. So in every detail of his thinking profanation manifests itself, and because heaven has such a horror of profanation he is inevitably forced down into hell.

[2] The nature of ideas is hardly known to anyone. People imagine that there is nothing complex about them, when in fact every idea within thought contains countless elements variously linked together so as to produce a certain form and consequent picture image of the person, the whole of which is perceived and even seen with the eyes in the next life. Take this merely as an example: When the idea of a place comes to mind – whether of a region, or a city, or a house – the idea and an image of all the things the person has ever done in that place crop up at the same time, and spirits and angels see them all. Or, if the idea of somebody whom he has hated presents itself, the idea of all he has thought, said, and done against that person arises at the same time. The same applies to ideas of all things, but when these present themselves every single detail that he has conceived of and impressed upon himself regarding a particular matter becomes apparent. For instance, if he has been an adulterer, when the idea of marriage crops up, all the muck and filth of adultery, even of thought about it, does so too, likewise all the arguments used to confirm adulterous practices, whether based on the evidence of the senses, or on rational grounds, or on the Word. And the way in which he has adulterated and perverted the truths of the Word crops up too.

[3] Furthermore, the idea of one thing merges into the idea of the next and colours it just as a tiny quantity of black placed in water darkens the whole volume of water. Consequently a spirit is recognized by his ideas, and what is remarkable, each one of his ideas bears his own image or likeness. When such an idea is presented visually it is so ugly that it is horrible to look at. All this makes clear the nature of the state of people who profane holy things, and the image they present in the next life. But people who in simplicity have believed statements made in the Word can never be said to profane holy things, not even if they have believed statements which are not literally true; for what is said in the Word is expressed in accordance with appearances, about which see 589.

AC (Elliott) n. 1009 1009. Verse 6 Whoever sheds man’s blood in man, his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.

‘Shedding man’s blood in man’ means destroying charity; ‘in man’ is residing with man. ‘His blood shall be shed’ means his condemnation. ‘For in the image of God He made man’ means charity, which is the image of God.

AC (Elliott) n. 1010 1010. That ‘shedding man’s blood in man’ means destroying charity, and ‘in man’ means residing with man, is clear from the meaning of ‘blood’, dealt with already, as the holiness of charity, and from the fact that the expression ‘man’s blood in man’ is used, that is, his internal life, which does not reside in him but with him. For the Lord’s life is charity, which does not reside within man, since man is filthy and unholy, but with him. That ‘shedding blood’ is doing violence to charity is clear from places in the Word, including those quoted already in 374 and 376, where it has been shown that violence done to charity is called ‘blood’.

[2] In the sense of the letter ‘shedding blood’ is killing, but in the internal sense it is hating the neighbour, as the Lord teaches in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever skills will be liable to judgement. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgement. Matt. 5:21, 22.

Here ‘being angry’ means departing from charity – about which see what has been said already in 357 – and consequently hatred. Someone who hates not only has no charity but also does violence to it, that is, he ‘sheds blood’. It is in hatred that murder lies, as is quite clear from the fact that the one desire of him who hates another is to have him killed. And but for the external restraints holding him back he would kill him. This is why killing ‘a brother’ and ‘shedding his blood’ is hatred. And being hatred, it is present in every idea he has against him. It is similar with profanation. As has been stated, a person who profanes the Word not only hates the truth but also annihilates it or slays it. This is quite clear in the next life from people who have been guilty of profanation. Although in outward appearance they have been honest, wise, and devout during their lifetime, in the next life they hold in deadly hatred the Lord, and also all goods that stem from love, and all truths of faith, the reason being that these are contrary to all their inner hatred, robbery, and adultery which they have covered over with a display of holiness while adulterating those goods and truths to their own advantage.

[3] That profanation is meant by ‘blood’ is clear from the following in Moses, in addition to the places quoted already in 374,

Anyone from the house of Israel who slays an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slays it outside the camp, and does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to offer it as a gift to Jehovah before the dwelling-place of Jehovah, blood will be imputed to that man; he has shed blood, and that man will be cut off from among his people. Lev. 17:3, 4.

Sacrificing anywhere else than on the altar at the Tent of Meeting represented profanation, for ‘offering sacrifice’ was holy, but offering it ‘in the camp’ or ‘outside the camp’ was unholy.

AC (Elliott) n. 1011 1011. ‘His blood shall be shed’ means his condemnation. This is clear from what has been stated. The sense of the letter implies that anyone who sheds blood, that is, who is a murderer, must be punished with death, but the internal sense implies that hatred of the neighbour condemns a person to death, that is, to hell, as the Lord also teaches in Matthew,

Whoever says to his brother, You fool! will be liable to the Gehenna of fire. Matt. 5:22.

Indeed when charity has been destroyed a person is left to himself and his proprium. He is no longer governed by the Lord by means of internal bonds, which are those of conscience, but by external bonds which are those of the law and those which he imposes upon himself so that he may be powerful and wealthy. And once these bonds are loosed, as indeed happens in the next life, he rushes into the most merciless and disgusting practices, and so to his own condemnation. ‘His blood shall be shed who sheds blood’ is a law of retaliation very well known to the ancients, by which they judged evil-minded and criminal acts, as is clear from many places in the Word. This law has its origin in the universal law, Do to your neighbour only what you would like others to do to you, Matt. 7:12, and also in the fact that the order embracing everything in the next life is such that evil punishes itself, as does falsity also, so that evil and falsity carry their own punishment And because order is such that evil punishes itself, or what amounts to the same, an evil man rushes into a form of punishment answering to his evil, the ancients derived from it their law of retaliation. It also is what is meant by the pronouncement here that ‘whoever sheds blood his blood shall be shed’, that is, he will rush into condemnation.

AC (Elliott) n. 1012 1012. The literal sense of the words ‘whoever sheds man’s blood in man, his blood shall be shed’ implies someone shedding another’ s blood, whereas the internal sense does not imply another’s blood but the charity residing with oneself. Hence also the wording ‘man’s blood in man’. Sometimes when the literal sense refers to two people, only one person is meant in the internal sense. ‘Man within man’ is the internal man, and therefore whoever destroys charity which belongs to the internal man, or is the internal man himself, ‘his blood shall be shed’, that is, he condemns himself.

AC (Elliott) n. 1013 1013. ‘For in the image of God He made man’ means charity, which is the image of God. This follows as a consequence of what is said above. Immediately above the subject was charity, meant by ‘blood’. And the command not to destroy it was meant by the statement that men should not shed blood. The statement that comes next, ‘in the image of God He made man’, makes it clear that charity is the image of God. What the image of God is, scarcely anybody knows nowadays. People say that the image of God was lost in the first man whom they call Adam; and that in him it was an image of God which, they assert, possessed a certain perfection with which they are not acquainted. Perfection there was indeed, for Adam or Man is used to mean the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial man and had perception such as no subsequent Church was to have. For this reason it was also the likeness of the Lord. The likeness of the Lord means love to Him.

[2] Afterwards in the process of time this Church perished, at which point the Lord created a new one, which was not a celestial Church but a spiritual. This Church was not a likeness but an image of the Lord. An image means spiritual love, that is, love towards the neighbour, which is charity, as also shown already in 50, 51. The fact that this Church was an image of the Lord by virtue of spiritual love, or charity, is clear from the present verse, while the fact that charity itself is the image of the Lord is clear from the consideration that it is said ‘for in the image of God He made man’, that is to say, charity itself made him. That charity is the image of God is absolutely clear from what is the very essence of love or charity. Nothing but love and charity can make anyone into a likeness or into an image. The essence of love and charity is to make two people so to speak into one. When one person loves another as himself, and more than himself, he sees the other in himself, and himself in the other. This anyone can appreciate if only he will direct his attention to what love is, or to persons who love one another mutually. The will of the one is that of the other; they are as it were inwardly joined together, and are separate from each other in body only.

[3] Love to the Lord makes man one with the Lord, that is, makes a likeness; charity or love towards the neighbour also makes him one with Him, but makes an image. An image is not a likeness but that which approaches a likeness. This oneness that arises from love the Lord Himself describes in John,

I pray that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. John 17:21-23.

This oneness is that mystical union which some people have in mind, a union which is achieved through love alone. In the same gospel,

Because I live you will live also; in that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me. If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:19-21, 27.

From these quotations it is clear that love is what joins together and that the Lord has His home with the person who loves Him and also with him who loves the neighbour, for to love the neighbour is to love the Lord.

[4] This union which makes a likeness and an image cannot be seen very easily in the human race; but it can be seen in heaven where all angels are so to speak one by virtue of their mutual love. Each community, which consists of very many angels, constitutes as it were one person. And all the communities together, that is, the whole of heaven, constitute one human being, also called the Grand Man, see 457 and 550. The whole of heaven is a likeness of the Lord, for the Lord is the All in all of those who are there. Each community is a likeness too, and so is each angel. Celestial angels are likenesses, spiritual angels are images. Heaven therefore consists of as many likenesses of the Lord as there are angels, and this is achieved solely by means of mutual love which entails one loving another more than himself, see 548, 549. For the situation is this: For heaven in general, or heaven as a whole, to be a likeness, its parts – which are the individual angels – must be likenesses, or images that approach likenesses. For unless the general whole consists of parts so to speak like itself, it is not something general making one. From these things as from the basic idea, one may see what makes a likeness or an image of God, namely love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. In consequence every regenerate spiritual person is an image of the Lord by virtue of love or charity, which are from the Lord alone. And whoever is governed by charity from the Lord is in a state of perfection. This perfection will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 1014 1014. Verse 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply; swarm over the earth and multiply in it.

‘Be fruitful and multiply’ here, as previously, means increases in good and truth in the interior man, ‘being fruitful’ having reference to goods, and ‘multiplying’ to truths. ‘Swarm over the earth and multiply in it’ means increases in good and truth in the external man, which man is ‘the earth’ – ‘swarming’ having reference to goods, ‘multiplying’ to truths.

AC (Elliott) n. 1015 1015. That ‘be fruitful and multiply’ means increases in good and truth in the interior man, ‘being fruitful’ having reference to goods and multiplying’ to truths, is clear from what has been shown already at verse 1 of this chapter where the same words occur. That they reside with the interior man becomes clear from the second half of this verse where the imperative multiply is repeated. This would be an unnecessary and therefore pointless repetition if it did not mean something specific, different from the previous use of the word. From these considerations, and from others mentioned so far, it is clear that here being fruitful and multiplying have reference to goods and truths residing with the interior man. The expression ‘interior man’ is used because, as shown above, one is an internal man in regard to celestial and spiritual things which are the Lord’ s alone, but an interior or intermediate man between internal man and external in regard to rational things, and an external man in regard to affections for good and to memory knowledge.

[2] That man is such has been shown in the opening sections of this chapter, in 978, but the reason why the individual is not conscious of them during his life in the body is that he is immersed in bodily things. Therefore he does not know of the existence of interior things, let alone about their existing distinctly and separately in such order. Yet, if he is willing to reflect, their existence is evident to him when he is wrapped in thought detached from the body and is thinking so to speak within his spirit. The reason being fruitful and multiplying have reference to the interior man, which is the rational, is that the activity of the internal man is not felt except very generally in the interior man, for limitless integral parts manifest themselves in the interior as one general, indeed very general, whole. How limitless those integral parts are, how they interrelate and manifest themselves as an obscure and very general whole, becomes clear from what has been shown already in 545.

AC (Elliott) n. 1016 1016. ‘Swarm over the earth and multiply in it’ means increases in good and truth in the external man, which man is ‘the earth’ – ‘swarming’ having reference to goods, and ‘multiplying’ to truths. This is clear from what has just been stated, and also from the meaning of ‘the earth’ as the external man. For these matters, see what has been stated and shown at verse 1 of this chapter, in 983.

[2] The expressions ‘swarm over the earth’ and so ‘multiply in it’ are used for the following reason: With a regenerate person nothing multiplies in his external man, that is, no good or truth at all is ever increased, unless it is the product of charity. Charity is like the warmth in springtime or summer that causes grass, plants, and trees to grow. Without charity, or spiritual warmth, nothing grows, and this is why the first expression used here is ‘swarm over the earth’ which has reference to goods that flow from charity, by means of which good and truth are multiplied. Anyone may grasp how this is so; nothing with a person grows and multiplies unless some affection is there. The delight that is part of the affection not only causes something to take root, but also causes it to grow. Everything depends on the influence of the affection.

[3] That which a person loves he freely takes in, retains, and treasures – and so everything that supports some affection. Those which do not support it he has no interest in, regards as worthless, in fact rejects. But the character of the affection determines that of the multiplication. With somebody who is regenerate it is an affection for good and truth deriving from charity given by the Lord. Consequently whatever supports an affection deriving from charity he takes in, retains, and treasures, and so strengthens himself in goods and truths. This is what is meant by ‘swarm over the earth and multiply’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1017 1017. That the nature of the multiplying depends on the character of the affection, let the person serve as an example who accepts the basic assumption that faith alone saves somebody even when he does not perform any charitable action, that is, has no charity, and so separates faith from charity. Such a person separates faith from charity not only because he has accepted that assumption since earliest childhood, but also because he really does think that if anyone were to say that charity, or the works of charity, were the essential constituent of faith and led a devout life on those grounds he would inevitably be placing merit in works, which however is a falsity. Thus he rejects charity and considers the works of charity to be worthless, and so keeps solely to the idea of faith, which is no faith at all when devoid of its essential, which is charity. As long as he confirms himself in that assumption he in no way acts from an affection for good but from the affection inherent in the delight of being able to live without any restriction on his evil desires. And anyone among those like this who relies on many different facts to confirm that assumption does not act from an affection for truth but from glory of self, in order that he may consequently appear greater, more learned, and more eminent than everybody else, and so be promoted to the ranks of the distinguished and wealthy. Thus he acts from the delight accompanying the affection, and this delight causes things of a confirmatory nature to multiply, for as stated, the character of the affection determines that of the multiplication. In general, if a basic assumption is false, nothing but falsities can possibly result from it. In fact everything conforms to the basic assumption. Indeed, as I know from experience, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy I will describe elsewhere, people who confirm themselves in such basic assumptions concerning faith alone and who have not been governed at all by charity, pay no attention to, and so to speak do not see, all that the Lord has said so many times about love and charity, as in Matt. 3:8, 9; 5:7, 43-48; 6:12, 15; 7:1-20; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 27; 18:21- end; 19:19; 22:35-39; 24:12, 13; 25:34, 40, 41, 45; Mark 4:18-20; 11:13, 14, 20; 12:28-34; Luke 3:8, 9; 6:27-38, 43-end; 7:47; 8:8, 14, 15; 10:25-28; 12:58, 59; 13:6-9; John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34, 35; 14:15, 21, 23; 15:1-17; 21:15-17.

AC (Elliott) n. 1018 1018. The reason why the statement found in verse 1 of this chapter ‘be fruitful and multiply’ is repeated here is that the conclusion is reached at this point. This statement means that everything will go well and will bear fruit and multiply if people refrain from what is meant by ‘eating blood’ and by ‘shedding blood’, that is to say, if they do not destroy charity by acts of hatred and profanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 1019 1019. Verse 8 And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

‘God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying’ means the truth of the things that follow concerning the spiritual Church, meant by ‘Noah and his sons with him’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1020 1020. That these things are meant becomes clear from the fact that everything put together as history from Genesis 1 down to Eber in Chapter 11 means something different from what appears in the letter, and from the consideration that the historical narratives there are purely made-up history customary among the most ancient people. When attesting the truth of some matter they would say that ‘Jehovah said it’. Here however ‘God’ is used because the subject is the spiritual Church. And they did the same when anything true was being, or had been, put into effect.

AC (Elliott) n. 1021 1021. That ‘Noah and his sons with him’ means the Ancient Church has been shown already and will be clear in subsequent parts of this chapter. Consequently there is no need to pause and confirm the point here.

AC (Elliott) n. 1022 1022. Verses 9, 10 And I, behold I, am establishing My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living soul that is with you – with birds, with beasts, and with every wild animal of the earth with you; from all that are going out of the ark, even every wild animal of the earth.

‘And I, behold I am establishing My covenant’ means the Lord’s presence in charity. ‘With you’ means a regenerate spiritual person. ‘And with your seed after you’ means those who are being created anew. ‘With every living soul that is with you’ means in general all things which with a person have been regenerated. ‘With birds’ means specifically the things of his understanding. ‘With beasts’ means specifically the things of his new will. ‘With every wild animal of the earth’ means lower things of the understanding or will which derive from these. ‘With you’ here, as previously, means the things that reside with a spiritual regenerate person. ‘From all that are going out of the ark’ means members of the Church. ‘Even every wild animal of the earth’ means people outside of the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1023 1023. That ‘and I, behold I am establishing My covenant’ means the Lord’s presence in charity becomes clear from the meaning of ‘a covenant’, dealt with in 666, where it was shown that ‘a covenant’ means regeneration, and in particular the conjunction of the Lord with a regenerate person by means of love. It was also shown there that the heavenly marriage is the actual covenant itself, and that consequently the heavenly marriage exists with every regenerate person. The nature of this marriage or covenant has also been shown already.

[2] The heavenly marriage with the member of the Most Ancient Church existed in the area of his own will, but the heavenly marriage with the member of the Ancient Church came into existence in the area of his own understanding. Actually when the will part of man’s mind had become utterly corrupted, the Lord in miraculous fashion separated the area of his own understanding from that corrupted will part, and within the area of man’s own understanding He formed a new will, which is conscience. Into conscience He infused charity, and into charity innocence, and in this manner joined Himself to man, or what amounts to the same, established a covenant with him.

[3] To the extent that the area of a person’s own will can be separated from this understanding part the Lord is able to be present with him, that is, to join Himself or establish a covenant with him. Temptations and similar means of regeneration render inactive the area of a person’s own will, so that it is reduced to nothing and so to speak dies. To the extent that this happens the Lord can operate within charity by means of conscience implanted in the area of a person’s own understanding. This is what is called ‘a covenant’ here.

AC (Elliott) n. 1024 1024. That ‘with you’ means a regenerate spiritual person is clear from what has been stated frequently already; that is to say, ‘Noah and his sons’ means the spiritual Church which came after the Most Ancient, which was celestial. And because it means the Church, it means each member of the Church, and so a regenerate spiritual person.

AC (Elliott) n. 1025 1025. That ‘with your seed after you’ means those who are being created anew is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’ and also from what follows. It is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’, in that in the literal sense ‘seed’ means descendants, but in the internal sense faith; and because faith, as stated often, does not exist except where charity does so, it is charity itself that is meant in the internal sense by ‘seed’. And from what follows it is clear that not only the person inside the Church is the subject but also he who is outside the Church, and so the whole of the human race. Wherever there is charity, even among gentiles furthest away from the Church, the seed is there, for heavenly seed is charity. Indeed nobody at all can do anything good from himself; everything good comes from the Lord. The good that gentiles do, who in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with later on, also comes from the Lord. That the seed of God is faith has been shown already in 255. By faith, there and in other places, is meant charity from which faith flows, for no faith that is really faith exists apart from faith that is an expression of charity.

[2] The same applies elsewhere in the Word where ‘seed’ is mentioned; for example, where the seed of Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob is referred to, love or charity is meant. Actually Abraham represented celestial love, Isaac spiritual love, both of which belong to the internal man, while Jacob represented the same as they exist with the external man. This applies not only in prophetical but also in historical sections. In heaven it is not the historical descriptions of the Word that are perceived but the things that those descriptions mean, for the Word has been written not only for the sake of man but also for that of angels. When man reads the Word and gains from it no more than the literal sense, the angels do not gain the literal sense but the internal sense. The material, worldly, and bodily ideas man has when reading the Word become with angels spiritual and celestial ideas. While man is reading about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for example, the angels do not have Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob in mind at all but those real things which are represented and so meant by them.

[3] The same applies with Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Angels have no knowledge of those people nor do they perceive anything else but the Ancient Church. More interior angels do not even perceive the Church, but the faith of that Church, and according to the train of thought they perceive the state of the things under discussion. Thus when ‘seed’ is mentioned in the Word, as here in reference to Noah, in the statement about the covenant being established with them and with their seed after them, angels do not perceive the descendants of those persons, for the man Noah never existed, only the Ancient Church bearing that name. By ‘seed’ angels understand charity, the essential constituent of the faith of that Church. The same applies to the historical details concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; when their seed is mentioned angels in no way understand the actual descendants of those three but all people throughout the world – both those who are inside the Church and those who are outside – with whom heavenly seed, which is charity, resides. And indeed the more interior angels perceive love itself, which is the heavenly seed – by itself, abstractly.

[4] That ‘seed’ means love and also everyone who has love is clear from the following places which refer to Abram,

Jehovah said, To your seed I will give this land. Gen. 12:7.

And also,

All the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed even for ever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth. Gen. 13:15, 16.

People who keep to the sense of the letter grasp no more than this – that ‘seed’ is used to mean Abram’s descendants, and ‘land’ to mean the land of Canaan, especially as that land was given to his descendants. But people possessing the internal sense, as the whole of heaven does, perceive ‘the seed of Abram’ to be nothing other than love, ‘the land of Canaan’ as nothing other than the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth, and ‘the land’ being given to them as nothing other than its representative, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere. A similar usage occurs in another place which refers to Abram,

Jehovah brought him outside and said, Look up now towards heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So will your seed be. Gen. 15:5.

Here in like manner, because Abram represented love, which was saving faith, no other descendants are meant in the internal sense by ‘his seed’ but all people throughout the world who dwell in love.

[5] Similarly,

I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you. And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal possession; and I will be their God. This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. Gen. 17:7, 8, 10.

Here too ‘establishing a covenant’ means the conjunction of the Lord with men throughout the world by means of love, a love represented by Abram. From this it is clear what his seed means, namely all people throughout the world who dwell in love. The covenant involved the circumcision mentioned here. By this heaven never understands circumcision of the flesh but circumcision of the heart – the circumcision received by people who dwell in love. Circumcision was a representative of regeneration by means of love, as is explained clearly in Moses,

Jehovah God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, so that you will love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Deut. 30:6.

From these words it is clear what circumcision is in the internal sense. Consequently wherever circumcision is mentioned it is used to mean nothing other than love and charity, and the life deriving from these.

[6] That ‘the seed of Abraham’ means all people throughout the world who have love is also clear from the Lord’s words to Abraham and to Isaac – to Abraham after he had shown his willingness to sacrifice Isaac as commanded,

I will certainly bless you and I will certainly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your seed will inherit the gate of your enemies, and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Gen. 22:17, 18.

Here it is quite clear that ‘seed’ is used to mean all people throughout the world who have love.

[7] Just as Abraham represented celestial love, as has been stated, so Isaac represented spiritual love; consequently ‘the seed of Isaac’ means nothing else than all with whom spiritual love, or charity, resides. Of them the following is said,

Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your seed I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father, and I will cause your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your seed all these lands, and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Gen. 26:3, 4, 24.

This clearly means all nations who dwell in charity. Celestial love was represented by Abraham as ‘the father’ of spiritual love represented by Isaac, for what is spiritual is born from what is celestial, as shown already.

[8] Since Jacob represented the external features of the Church which arise from those that are internal, and so represented all things in the external man that have their origins in love and charity, ‘his seed’ therefore means all people throughout the world whose worship is external containing internal worship, and whose charitable acts contain charity from the Lord. Concerning that seed Jacob was told, after he had seen the stairway in a dream,

I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your seed, and your seed will be as the dust of the earth. And in you, and in your seed, will all the families of the ground be blessed. Gen. 18:13, 14; 32:12; 48:4.

[9] That ‘seed’ has no other meaning becomes clear from the following places, in addition to those quoted from the Word in 255. In Isaiah,

You, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My friend. Isa. 41:8.

This refers to the regeneration of man. When the distinction is made between Israel and Jacob, as it is frequently, ‘Israel’ means the internal spiritual Church, ‘Jacob’ the external features of the same Church. Both are called ‘the seed of Abraham’, that is, of the celestial Church, because celestial, spiritual, and natural follow one another consecutively. In Jeremiah,

I had planted you as a wholly excellent vine, a seed of truth. How have you turned from Me into the degenerate [branches] of a strange vine? Jer. 2:21.

This refers to the spiritual Church, which is ‘an excellent vine’, whose charity, that is, faith deriving from charity, is called ‘a seed of truth’.

[10] the same prophet,

As the host of heaven is unnumbered, and the sand of the sea immeasurable, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant, and the Levites ministering to Me. Jer. 33:22.

Here ‘seed’ clearly stands for heavenly seed, for ‘David’ means the Lord. The fact that the seed of David was not like the unnumbered host of heaven, or the immeasurable sand of the sea, is well known to everyone. In the same prophet,

Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, and I will raise up for David a righteous branch and He will reign as King, act with understanding, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell with confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, and men will say no longer, As Jehovah lives who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, As Jehovah lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the north. Jer. 23:5-8.

Here entirely different things are meant from those that appear in the letter – David, Judah, and Israel do not mean David, Judah, and Israel, but David means the Lord, Judah that which is celestial, and Israel that which is spiritual. Consequently ‘the seed of Israel’ means people who have charity, that is, faith inhering in charity.

[11] In David,

You who fear Jehovah, praise Him! all the seed of Jacob, glorify Him! stand in awe of Him, all the seed of Israel! Ps. 22:23, 24.

Here ‘seed of Israel’ is used to mean no other seed than the spiritual Church. In Isaiah,

Its stump will be the holy seed. Isa. 6:13.

‘Holy seed’ stands for remnants, which are holy because they are the Lord’s. In the same prophet,

I will bring forth seed from Jacob, and from Judah the possessor of My mountains, and My chosen ones will possess it, and My servants will dwell there. Isa. 65:9.

This refers to the celestial Church, external and internal. In the same prophet,

They will not generate in sudden terror. They will be the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. Isa. 65:23.

This refers to the new heavens and a new earth, that is, to the Lord’s kingdom. People who are there, having been generated, or regenerated, from love, are called ‘the seed of the blessed of Jehovah’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1026 1026. ‘With every living soul that is with you’ means in general all things which with a person have been regenerated. This becomes clear from what comes before and after, and also from the meaning of the Living One. The expression ‘living’ is used for everything that has received life from the Lord, and ‘living soul’ for everything with the regenerate person which lives from Him. For it is according to the life that a regenerate person receives that every part of him has life, every part of his rational thought as well as of his affections. This life as it exists in every part of his thought and speech is visible to angels but not to man.

AC (Elliott) n. 1027 1027. ‘With birds’ means specifically the things of his understanding. This is clear from what has been stated and shown frequently already about birds, as in 40, 776

AC (Elliott) n. 1028 1028. ‘With beasts’ means specifically the things of his new will. This too is clear from what has been stated and shown already about beasts and their meaning, as in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 776.

AC (Elliott) n. 1029 1029. ‘With every wild animal of the earth’ means lower things of the understanding or will which derive from these. This too is clear from what has been shown already about the meaning of ‘a wild animal’, for with everybody there are interior things and exterior. The interior are rational concepts which are here meant by ‘birds’, and affections which are meant by ‘beasts’. The exterior are facts and delights which are meant here by ‘wild animals of the earth’. That ‘bird’, ‘beast’, and ‘wild animal’ do not mean any bird, beast, or wild animal but that which is living with a regenerate person anyone may know and deduce from the fact that, in spite of the statement, ‘I will establish My covenant with every living soul that is with you, with birds, with beasts, and with every wild animal with you’, God cannot possibly enter into a covenant with animals. He can do so only with man who is being described by means of those animals as to his interior and exterior things.

AC (Elliott) n. 1030 1030. ‘From all that are going out of the ark’ means members of the Church, and ‘even every wild animal of the earth’ people outside of the Church. This becomes clear from the train of thought in the internal sense. For direct reference to everything that went out of the ark being every living soul among birds, beasts, and wild animals of the earth’ precedes the statement repeated here, ‘from all those going out of the ark, even every wild animal of the earth’. ‘Wild animal of the earth’ is accordingly referred to a second time, which would be mere repetition if at this point it was not used to mean something different. And in addition to this, that which comes next – ‘and I will establish My covenant with you – is also a statement that has appeared already. From this it is clear that ‘those going out of the ark’ means people who have been regenerated, that is, members of the Church, and ‘wild animal of the earth’ all people throughout the world who are outside of the Church.

[2] Except when used to mean a living creature, ‘wild animal of the earth’ in the Word means things of a more inferior kind which to a greater or less extent are of an untamed nature, their exact meaning depending on the things to which they refer. When referring to the things that are within man, ‘wild animal of the earth’ means the lower things that belong to the external man and to the body, such as those just mentioned in this verse, and so things of a more inferior kind. When it refers to an entire community, which is called a composite man, or composite person, ‘wild animal of the earth’ means people who do not belong to the Church because they are more inferior. And the meaning may be different again depending on the subject to which it refers, as in Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air,* and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

In Isaiah,

Wild animals of the field will honour Me, for I have given them water in the desert. Isa. 43:20.

In Ezekiel,

In its branches all the birds of the air* made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezek. 31:6.
* lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

AC (Elliott) n. 1031 1031. Verse 11 And I will establish My covenant with you; and never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

‘And I will establish My covenant with you’ means the Lord’s presence with all people who have charity, and refers to ‘those going out of the ark’ and to ‘every wild animal of the earth’, that is, to people inside the Church and to those outside of it. ‘And never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood’ means that men would not perish in the way that the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church had done. ‘And never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth’ means that such deadly and stifling persuasion will never manifest itself again.

AC (Elliott) n. 1032 1032. That ‘and I will establish My covenant with you’ means the Lord’s presence with all people who have charity, and refers to ‘those going out of the ark’ and to ‘every wild animal of the earth’, that is, to people inside the Church and to those outside of it, is clear from what has been stated just above. With regard to the Lord also entering into a covenant with, that is, joining Himself by means of charity to people outside of the Church who are called gentiles, the position is this: The member of the Church imagines that all outside of the Church who are called gentiles cannot be saved because they do not possess any cognitions of faith and do not therefore know the Lord at all. Churchmen say that without faith and without knowledge of the Lord there is no salvation, and so all who are outside of the Church stand condemned. Indeed many such persons possessing some doctrine, even those embracing heresy, imagine that all outside of the Church, that is, all who do not feel as they do, are not saved. But the reality is altogether different. The Lord has mercy towards the whole human race, and wishes to save and draw to Himself all people throughout the universe.

[2] The Lord’s mercy is infinite and will not let itself be limited to the few who are inside the Church. Instead it reaches out to all in the whole wide world. No one can be blamed because he has been born outside of the Church and so has no knowledge of matters of faith. Nor is anybody in any way condemned for having no faith in the Lord because he does not know Him. What right-thinking person is ever going to say that the greater part of the human race will perish in eternal death just because they have not been born in Europe whose inhabitants are relatively few? And what right-thinking person is going to say that the Lord would allow such a large number of people to be born so as to perish in eternal death? That would be contrary to the Divine and contrary to mercy. And in any case people outside of the Church, called gentiles, lead a far more upright life than those inside the Church do, and they embrace far more readily that which true faith teaches. This matter becomes clearer still from souls in the next life.

[3] From the so-called Christian world come the worst people of all, those in whom deadly hatred of the neighbour and deadly hatred of the Lord prevail. More than anybody else in the whole world they are adulterers. But this is not true of all other parts of the world; for a large number of those who have worshipped idols have an attitude of mind that finds hatred and adultery abhorrent, and they fear Christians for being such and for wishing to subject everybody else to torture. Indeed gentiles are such that when taught by angels about truths of faith and that the Lord rules over all, they have no difficulty in listening and have no difficulty in being endued with faith, and so casting aside their idols. Consequently those gentiles who have led an upright life, and have done so in mutual charity and in innocence, are regenerated in the next life. While they are living in the world the Lord is present with them in their charity and innocence, for no charity or innocence exists at all except that which comes from the Lord. The Lord also confers on them, according to the religion they have, a conscience for what is right and good, and instills innocence and charity into that conscience. And when innocence and charity exist in conscience they allow themselves without difficulty to be endued with the truth of faith deriving from good. The Lord Himself has said all this in Luke,

Someone said to Jesus, Lord, are those who are saved few? He said to them, You will see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrust out. On the other hand men will come from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And, behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. Luke 13:23, 28-30.

‘Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’ here are used to mean all who dwell in love, as shown already.

AC (Elliott) n. 1033 1033. With regard to the assertion that gentiles too have a conscience for what is right and good conferred on them according to the religion they have, the situation is this: Conscience in general is either true, spurious, or false. True conscience is a conscience formed by the Lord from truths of faith. Once it has been conferred a person is afraid to act contrary to the truths of faith because to do so is to act contrary to conscience. This conscience nobody can receive who does not possess any truths of faith, and this also is why not so many in the Christian world do so, for there everybody advances his own dogma as being the truth of faith. Nevertheless people who are being regenerated receive conscience while receiving charity, for the basic constituent of conscience is charity.

[2] Spurious conscience is a conscience formed with gentiles from the religious worship in which they have been born and brought up. For them acting contrary to that religious worship is acting contrary to conscience. When their conscience is grounded in charity and mercy, and in obedience, they are people such as are able to receive a true conscience in the next life, and do indeed receive it. In fact there is nothing they would rather have than the truth of faith.

[3] False conscience is a conscience formed not from internal things but from external, that is, not from charity but from self-love and love of the world. In fact there are people who seem to themselves to be acting contrary to conscience when they act against their neighbour, and who also at such times seem to themselves to be inwardly smitten. Yet the reason is that they perceive in their thought that their own life, position, reputation, wealth, or financial gain is at stake, and so perceive that they themselves are being hurt. Some inherit this soft-heartedness, others acquire it for themselves. It is however a false conscience.

AC (Elliott) n. 1034 1034. ‘Never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood’ means that men would not perish in the way that the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church had done. This is clear from what has been stated already about the people before the Flood who perished, that is, the people who were cut off by the waters of the flood. It has been shown already in 310 what the situation was – that the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church were such that when the will part of their minds had become corrupted, the understanding part had been simultaneously corrupted as well. Consequently the understanding part could not be separated from the will part and a new will be formed in the understanding part, since the two parts of their mind were knit together. Because this was foreseen provision was also made by the Lord that the understanding part with man could be separated from the will part and so be renewed. And because it was thus provided that no type of human being should afterwards arise like that people before the Flood, it is therefore said here that ‘never again will any flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1035 1035. ‘And never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth’ means that such deadly and stifling persuasion will never manifest itself again. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘the flood’ in reference to the people before the Flood who perished, dealt with already, also from their dreadful persuasions, dealt with in 310, 563, 570, 581, 586, as well as from details concerning the Church called Noah that followed, and further still from what is mentioned below concerning the rainbow.

AC (Elliott) n. 1036 1036. Verse 12, 13 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you and every living soul that is with you, into the generations of an age. I have given My bow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ‘And God said’ means that it was so. ‘This is the sign of the covenant’ means a token of the Lord’s presence in charity. ‘Which I give between Me and you’ means conjunction of the Lord with man by means of charity. ‘And every living soul that is with you’ means, as previously, all things with a person that have been regenerated. ‘Into the generations of an age’ means all unceasingly who are being created anew. ‘I have given [My] bow in the cloud’ means the state of a regenerate spiritual person, who is like a rainbow -‘the cloud’ means the obscure light in which the spiritual man dwells in comparison with the celestial man. ‘And it will be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth’ means, as previously, a token of the Lord’s presence in charity, ‘the earth’ here being man’s proprium. All these details have regard to a regenerate spiritual person or the spiritual Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1037 1037. That ‘and God said’ means that it was so has been stated and shown already; for God’s or Jehovah’s saying, or His having said, means that it was so. Because the most ancient people used to weave together as a historical tale things to do with the Church, they would say, when wishing to assert that something was so, ‘God said’ or ‘Jehovah said’. With them this was a commonplace expression for asserting and confirming something.

AC (Elliott) n. 1038 1038. That ‘this is the sign of the covenant’ means a token of the Lord’s presence in charity is clear from the meaning of ‘a covenant’ and of ‘the sign of a covenant’. That the covenant means the Lord’s presence in charity has been shown already at Chapter 6:18, and above at verse 9 of the present chapter; and that a covenant is the Lord’s presence in love and charity is clear from the very nature of a covenant. The purpose of any covenant is conjunction, that is to say, its purpose is that people may live together in friendship or in love. This also is why marriage is called a covenant. The Lord’s conjunction with man does not exist except in love and charity, for the Lord is love itself and mercy. He wills to save everyone and by His mighty power to draw them towards heaven, that is, towards Himself. From this anyone may know and conclude that it is impossible for anybody to be joined to the Lord except by means of that which He Himself is, that is, except by acting like Him, or becoming one with Him – that is to say, by loving the Lord in return, and loving the neighbour as oneself. In this way alone is conjunction brought about; this constitutes the very essence of a covenant. When conjunction results from this, it quite plainly follows that the Lord is present. The Lord is indeed present with each individual, but that presence is closer or more remote, all depending on how near the person is to love or distant from it.

[2] Since ‘the covenant’ is the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of love, or what amounts to the same, the Lord’s presence with man in love and charity, the covenant itself is called in the Word ‘a covenant of peace’, for ‘peace’ means the Lord’s kingdom, and the Lord’s kingdom consists in mutual love, in which alone peace resides, as is said in Isaiah,

The mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed, said Jehovah, the One who takes pity on you. Isa. 54:10.
Here mercy, which is an attribute of love, is called ‘a covenant of peace’. In Ezekiel,

I will raise up over them one shepherd, and He will pasture them – My servant David. He will pasture them and He will be a shepherd to them. And I will make with them a covenant of peace. Ezek. 34:23, 25.

Here ‘David’ is plainly used to mean the Lord, and His presence with a regenerate person is described by the words ‘He will pasture them’.

[3] In the same prophet,

My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. And I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will bless* them and cause them to multiply, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. And I will be their God and they will be My people. Ezek. 37:14, 16, 17.

Here similarly the Lord is meant by David. Love is meant by the ‘sanctuary in their midst’, the Lord’s presence and conjunction in love by the promise that ‘He will be their God, and they will be His people’, which is called ‘a covenant of peace’ and ‘an eternal covenant’. In Malachi,

You will know that I have sent this command to you, that it may be My covenant with Levi, said Jehovah Zebaoth. My covenant was with him, [a covenant] of life** and peace, and I have given them to him in fear, and he will fear Me. Mal. 2:4, 5.

In the highest sense ‘Levi’ means the Lord, and from this the person who has love and charity; and this being so ‘a covenant of life’ and peace with Levi’ means in love and charity.

[4] In Moses, in reference to Phinehas,

Behold, I am giving to him My covenant of peace, and it will be to him and his seed after him a covenant of eternal priesthood. Num. 25:12, 13.

Here ‘Phinehas’ is not used to mean Phinehas but the priesthood which he represented and which means love and what belongs to love, as does the entire priesthood of that Church. Everyone knows that the priesthood did not remain with Phinehas for ever. In the same author,

Jehovah your God is God Himself, a faithful God who keeps a covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and who keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation. Deut. 7:9, 12.

Here the Lord’s presence with man in love is clearly meant by ‘the covenant’, for it is said to be ‘with those who love Him and keep His commandments’.

[5] Because the covenant is the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of love, it follows that it is also achieved by means of all the things allied to love, which are the truths of faith and are called commandments. For all the commandments, indeed the Law and the Prophets, are based on that single law that men ought to love the Lord above all things and the neighbour as themselves. This is clear from the Lord’s words in Matt. 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-34. This is also why the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written are called ‘the tablets of the covenant’. Since a covenant or conjunction is achieved by means of the laws or commandments of love it was also achieved by means of the social laws introduced by the Lord into the Jewish Church, which are called ‘testimonies’, as well as by the religious observances commanded by the Lord, which are called ‘statutes’. All of these are called [laws] of the covenant because they have regard to love and charity. As is said of King Josiah,

The king stood upon the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to establish the words of the covenant. 1 Kings 23:7.

[6] From these references it is now clear what a covenant is, and that the covenant is internal, for the conjunction of the Lord with man is achieved by means of internal things, and never by means of external things separated from internal. External things are merely images and representatives of those that are internal, as the action of a person is an image representative of his thought and will, and as a charitable act is an image representative of charity present within, in intention and mind. Thus all the religious observances of the Jewish Church were images representative of the Lord, and so of love and charity, and of all things deriving from these. It is by means of the internal things of a person therefore that the covenant or conjunction is achieved. External things are no more than signs of the covenant, which also is what they are called. That internal things are the means by which the covenant or conjunction is achieved is quite clear, as in Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they rendered My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them and will write it on their hearts. Jer. 31:31-33.

This refers to a new Church. It is plainly stated that the covenant itself is achieved by means of internal things, and indeed within conscience on which the Law is written, the whole of which Law, as stated, is that of love.

[7] That external things do not constitute the covenant unless internal things are joined to them and so through that union act as one and the same cause, but are merely ‘signs of the covenant’ by means of which, as by representative images, the Lord might be called to mind, is clear from the fact that the sabbath and circumcision are called ‘signs’ of the covenant. That the sabbath is so called is clear in Moses,

The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, an eternal covenant. Between Me and the children of Israel this is a sign eternally. Exod. 31:16, 17.

And that circumcision is called ‘a sign of the covenant’ is clear in the same author,

This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you is to be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Gen. 17:10, 11.

For the same reason also blood is called ‘the blood of the covenant’, Exod. 24:7, 8.

[8] The chief reason why external religious ceremonies were called signs of the covenant was so that from them people might call interior things to mind, that is, the things meant by them. All the religious observances of the Jewish Church were nothing else. For this reason they were also called signs that would serve to remind the people of interior things – for example, the practice of binding the chief commandment on the hand and of wearing frontlets, as stated in Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. And you shall bind these words as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Deut. 6:5, 8; 11:13, 18.

Because it means power ‘the hand’ here means the will, for power is an attribute of the will; while ‘frontlets between the eyes’ means the understanding. Thus ‘a sign’ means calling to mind the chief commandment, or epitome of the Law, that it may be constantly in the will and constantly in the thought, that is, that the Lord and love may be present within the whole will and the whole thought. Such is the presence of the Lord and from Him of mutual love existing with angels. That constant presence and the nature of it will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. And in like manner here the statement, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you; I have given My bow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of the covenant’, means no other sign than a token of the Lord’s presence in charity, and so man’s remembrance of Him. But in what way the bow in the cloud provides that token and so remembrance will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on.
* lit. give
** lit. of lives

AC (Elliott) n. 1039 1039. ‘Which I give between Me and you’ means conjunction of the Lord with man by means of charity. This is clear from what has just been stated about the covenant and the sign of the covenant. Actually ‘the covenant’ is the Lord’s presence within charity, ‘between Me and you’ is conjunction resulting from that presence, ‘giving’ is bringing it about.

AC (Elliott) n. 1040 1040. ‘And every living soul that is with you’ means all things with a person that have been regenerated. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a living soul’, dealt with above at verse to. In the Word, as has been stated, soul’ means all life – man’s internal life as well as external, and also that in living creatures since these mean the things that exist in man. But strictly speaking ‘living soul’ is that which receives life from the Lord, that is, which has been regenerated, for this alone is living. And because ‘soul’ means the life, internal as well as external, with man, ‘living soul’ embraces in meaning all things with a person that have been regenerated. Residing with man there are things of the will and things of the understanding, the former entirely distinct and separate from the latter; and with a living man every single one of those things is living. For the implications are that as is a person’s character so is every single thing residing with him. The life itself that is general to the whole is present in every individual part, for the whole has its origins in the individual parts, as its own particulars. If this were not so no general whole could possibly arise, for it is called general because it arises out of particulars.

[2] As is a person’s life in general therefore, so is his life in every individual part, indeed in the smallest individual parts of his motives and intentions – that is, of his will – and in the smallest individual parts of his thinking; so that not the least part of an idea can exist in which the same life is not present. Take someone who is arrogant: arrogance is present in every individual endeavour of his will and in every individual idea of his thought. With someone who is avaricious avarice is in a similar way present, as is hatred with one who hates the neighbour. Or take someone who is stupid: stupidity is present in every individual part of his will and also of his thought, as is insanity with one who is insane. Such being the nature of man, his character is recognized in the next life from one single idea of his thought.

[3] Once a person has been regenerated every single thing with him has been regenerated. That is, everything has life, the amount of life depending on the degree to which his own will, which is filthy and dead, could be separated from the new will and understanding which he has received from the Lord. Consequently as the person who is regenerate is the subject here ‘a living soul’ means all things with him that have been regenerated. These, in general, constitute the things of his understanding and of his will, interior as well as exterior. They have been expressed in verse to above as ‘birds and beasts, and wild animals of the earth’, for it is said, ‘I am establishing My covenant with every living soul – with birds, with beasts, and with wild animals of the earth’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1041 1041. ‘Into the generations of an age’ means all unceasingly who are being created anew. This is clear from the meaning of ‘generations of an age’. ‘Generations’ means descendants of those going before as their parents. ‘An age’ is that which continues unceasingly. Here the subject is those things that have been regenerated and therefore ‘the generations of an age’ is used to mean those people who are unceasingly being regenerated in this way, that is, who are being created anew. In the internal sense the meaning of everything is determined by the subject under discussion.

AC (Elliott) n. 1042 1042. ‘I have given My bow in the cloud’ means the state of a regenerate spiritual person, who is like a rainbow. Anyone may wonder that in the Word ‘the bow in the cloud’, or the rainbow, is taken as a sign of the covenant, for the rainbow is nothing else than something produced by the conversion of rays of sunlight in raindrops. It is a wholly natural phenomenon, unlike other signs of the covenant in the Church mentioned just above. But the fact that ‘the bow in the cloud’ represents regeneration and means the state of a regenerate spiritual person, nobody is able to know unless he is allowed to see and consequently know what exactly is involved. When spiritual angels, who have all been regenerate members of the spiritual Church, are in the next life manifested visibly as such, there appears around their head a rainbow so to speak. But the rainbows which appear accord completely with their state, and from this also their characters are recognized in heaven and in the world of spirits. The reason the likeness of a rainbow appears is that their natural things corresponding to spiritual present such visible shape. It is a conversion of spiritual light from the Lord within their natural things. These angels are those said to have been ‘regenerated by water and the spirit’ while celestial angels are those said to have been ‘regenerated with fire’.

[2] In the case of; natural things, so that colour may be produced something dark and light, or black and white, is necessary. When rays of light from the sun fall on this, depending on the varying composition of the dark and light, or black and white, colours are produced from the modification of the inflowing rays of light. Some of those colours draw more, others less, on the dark and black, and some more, or less, on the light and white; and this is what gives rise to diversity of colour. Something comparable to this exists in spiritual things. In their case the intellectual side of the proprium, or falsity, constitutes ‘the dark’, and the will side of the proprium, or evil, which absorbs and extinguishes rays of light constitutes ‘the black’. As for the ‘light and white’, these are the truth or good which a person imagines he does from himself, which reflects and casts back from itself the rays of light. The rays of light which fall on those things and so to speak modify them come from the Lord as the Sun of wisdom and intelligence; for the rays of spiritual light are no other and have no other source. It is because natural things correspond to spiritual that when in the next life that which is around a regenerate spiritual person is manifested visibly, there appears that which is similar to a bow in a cloud. This bow is a representation of the spiritual things present within his natural things. With the regenerate spiritual person an intellectual side of the proprium exists into which the Lord instills innocence, charity, and mercy. As is the person’s reception of these gifts so is the appearance of his rainbow when manifested visibly – the more beautiful the more that the will side of his proprium has been taken away, disciplined, and reduced to a state of obedience.

[3] When the prophets had a vision of God, a bow as if in a cloud was also seen by them, as in Ezekiel’s vision,

Above the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubim, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness as it were of the appearance of a Man (Homo) upon it above. And I saw as it were the shape of coal burning bright, as the appearance of fire, within it round about from the appearance of His loins upwards. And from the appearance of His loins and downwards I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it, like the appearance of the bow when it is in the cloud on the day of rain; so was the appearance of brightness round about; this was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of Jehovah. Ezek. 1:26-28.

It may be clear to anyone that it was the Lord who was seen in this vision, and that on that occasion He represented heaven, for He Himself is heaven, that is, the All in all of heaven. He Himself is the ‘Man’ mentioned here, ‘the throne’ is heaven, ‘the coal burning bright, as the appearance of fire, from the loins upwards’ is the celestial element of love, ‘the brightness of fire round about from the loins downwards, like the bow in the cloud’ is the celestial-spiritual. In this way the celestial heaven, or heaven of celestial angels, was represented from the loins upwards, and the spiritual heaven, or heaven of spiritual angels, from the loins downwards. In fact the things that are below, from the loins down to the soles of the feet, mean in the Grand Man natural things. From this it is also clear that, when thus enlightened by spiritual light from the Lord, the natural things in man take on the appearance of ‘the bow in the cloud’. The same appeased to John as well, see Rev. 4:2, 3; 10:1.

AC (Elliott) n. 1043 1043. ‘The cloud’ means the obscure light in which the spiritual man dwells in comparison with the celestial man. This becomes clear from what has just been stated concerning the bow; for the bow, or the colour of the bow, is never manifested except within the cloud. As has been stated, it is the obscurity itself through which the sun’s rays shine that is converted into different colours, and so the actual colour that is produced is determined by the nature of the obscurity which the brightness of those rays encounters. Similarly with the spiritual man. The obscurity with him, which is called ‘the cloud’ here, is falsity, and is the same as the intellectual side of his proprium. When innocence, charity, and mercy from the Lord are instilled into this part of his proprium, the cloud is no longer seen as falsity but as an appearance of truth together with [real] truth from the Lord. Consequently there is the likeness of a coloured bow. The conversion of something spiritual that defies description is involved here, but how else the matter can be explained intelligibly except through the way a person perceives colours and how they are produced I do not know.

[2] The nature of this cloud with someone who is regenerate is clear from what his state was prior to regeneration. A person is regenerated by means of the things he supposes to be the truths of faith. Everyone supposes that his own accepted belief is the truth, and on this basis acquires a conscience. Consequently once he has acquired a conscience, acting contrary to the things that have been impressed on him as being the truths of faith is to him acting contrary to conscience. This applies to everyone who is regenerate. For many from whatever accepted belief are regenerated by the Lord; and once regenerated, they do not receive any direct revelation, but only those things which are implanted through the Word and preaching of it. But because they receive charity, the Lord operates by way of charity into the cloud that is theirs. From this, light is provided, as when the sun pierces a cloud which thereby becomes more illumined and made varicoloured. So also within the cloud [of falsity] the likeness of a bow is manifested. The thinner the cloud therefore, that is, the more it consists of many truths of faith blending together, the more beautiful is the bow; but the thicker this cloud, that is, the less it consists of truths of faith, the less beautiful the bow. Innocence adds considerably to its beauty, bringing so to speak a living brightness to the colours.

[3] All appearances of truth are ‘clouds’ which envelop a person when he is confined to the sense of the letter of the Word, for the Word speaks according to appearances. Yet, even though he remains in appearances, since he believes the Word in simplicity and has charity, that cloud is relatively thin – it being within this cloud that the Lord forms conscience in the case of one who is inside the Church. In addition, all forms of ignorance of truth are ‘clouds’, such as envelop a person who does not know what the truth of faith is, in general when he does not know what the Word is, and still more when he has not heard about the Lord. It is within this cloud that the Lord forms conscience in the case of one who is outside the Church; for in ignorance itself there can be innocence, and so charity. All falsities too are ‘clouds’, but these clouds are the darkness that exists either with people who have a false conscience, as described already, or with people who have none at all. These are in general the various types of clouds. As regards the number of them, the clouds with an individual are so numerous and so thick that if he knew he would be amazed that rays of light from the Lord could ever pierce them at all and that anyone could be regenerated. The person who imagines he has a very small amount of cloud sometimes has a vast quantity of it, while the one who believes he has a vast quantity of cloud has less.

[4] Such clouds reside with the spiritual man, but with the celestial man not so many do so since with him love to the Lord is present, which has been implanted in the will part of his mind. He does not therefore receive conscience from the Lord as the spiritual man does, but perception of good and from this of truth. When the will part of someone’s mind is such that he is able to receive rays from a celestial flame, the understanding part is lit up by it, and he knows and perceives from love all things that are truths of faith. The will part is then like a little sun from which rays pass into the understanding part. Such was the nature of the member of the Most Ancient Church. But when the will part of his mind has become utterly corrupted and hellish, and a new will, which is conscience, is therefore formed in the understanding part, as happened to the member of the Ancient Church and happens now to every regenerate member of the spiritual Church, there is thick cloud; for, having no ability to perceive what good and truth are, he must gain a knowledge of this through learning about them. At the same time falsity, which is the obscurity of the cloud, is constantly flowing in from the black will part of his mind, that is, from hell by way of that will part. For this reason the understanding part with the spiritual man can never be enlightened in the way that it is with the celestial man. This is why ‘cloud’ here means the obscure light in which the spiritual man dwells in comparison with the celestial man.

AC (Elliott) n. 1044 1044. ‘And it will be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth’ means a token of the Lord’s presence in charity, ‘the earth’ here being a person’s proprium. This is clear from what has been stated already. That ‘the earth’ means a person’s Proprium is clear from the internal sense and from the whole train of thought. Above it was stated that ‘this is the sign of the covenant between Me and you and every living soul that is with you’ meant whatever has been regenerated; but here the wording is different – ‘it will be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth’. From this, and also from the repetition of ‘sign of the covenant’, it is evident that something different is meant here, and indeed that ‘the earth’ is that which has not been regenerated, and which is incapable of being, namely the will part of a person’s proprium.

[2] When somebody is regenerate he belongs to the Lord so far as the understanding Part of his mind is concerned but belongs to himself so far as the will part of it is concerned. These two parts in the spiritual man are opposed to each other. But although the will part of a person’s proprium is opposed, its continuing presence is nevertheless inevitable. Indeed all the obscurity in the understanding part, that is, all the thickness of his cloud, originates there. It is constantly flowing in from there, and in the measure it flows in so the cloud in the understanding part thickens; but in the measure it is taken away, the cloud thins out. This is why ‘the earth’ here means a person’s proprium. That ‘the earth’ means the bodily part of man’s nature as well as having many other meanings has been shown already.

[3] The relationship between those two parts is like two parties who were first of all joined together by a covenant of friendship – as will and understanding were in the member of the Most Ancient Church – and then the friendship was broken off and hostility arose, as happened when man corrupted totally the will part of him. After that, when the covenant is renewed, the hostile part presents itself as though the covenant were with it. But no covenant is made with it because it is utterly opposed and contrary. It is made instead with that which flows in from it, as has been stated, that is, with the understanding part of the proprium. The sign or token of the covenant is this, that to the extent the Lord is present in the understanding part of the proprium the will part of it will be taken away. The relationship between the two is just like that of heaven and hell. The understanding part of a regenerate person, by virtue of the charity in which the Lord is present, is heaven, while the will part of him is hell. To the extent the Lord is present in heaven, hell is removed; for when he subsists from himself man is in hell, but when he does so from the Lord he is in heaven. Man is constantly being raised up from hell into heaven, and so far as he is raised up his hell is taken away from him. The sign or token therefore that the Lord is present rests in the fact that man’s own will is taken away. The possibility of that removal is achieved by means of temptations and many other means of regeneration.

AC (Elliott) n. 1045 1045. The things that have been introduced up to now have regard to the regenerate spiritual man, or the spiritual Church, while those that follow next have regard to all people in general, and then specifically to the person who is able to be regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 1046 1046. Verses 14, 15 And when I cloud over the earth with cloud, and the bow is seen in the cloud, I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living soul in all flesh. And the waters will no more be a flood to destroy all flesh.

‘And when I cloud over the earth with cloud’ means a time when, the will part of man’s proprium being what it is, faith that flows from charity does not appear. ‘And the bow is seen in the cloud’ means when man is still such as to be able to be regenerated. ‘And I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you’ means the Lord’s mercy specifically towards those who have been regenerated, and those who are able to be. ‘And with every living soul in all flesh’ means the entire human race. ‘And the waters will no more be a flood to destroy all flesh’ means that it will not be possible any more for the understanding part of his mind to soak up the kind of persuasion that would cause him to perish as the [final] descendants of the Most Ancient Church did. These verses have regard to all people in general.

AC (Elliott) n. 1047 1047. That ‘and when I cloud over the earth with cloud’ means a time when, the will part of man’s proprium being what it is, faith that flows from charity does not appear, is clear from what has been stated just above regarding ‘the earth’, that is, about the will part of man’s proprium being such that it is constantly introducing obscurity, or falsity, into the understanding part. This is ‘a clouding over’. All falsity originates in this way, as becomes quite clear from the fact that self-love and love of the world which belong to man’s will are nothing else than hatred. For insofar as anyone loves himself he hates the neighbour. Because these loves are so contrary to heavenly love, it is inevitable that such things as are contrary to mutual love should be constantly flowing in from them. All of those things in the understanding part are falsities, and from them arises all the obscurity and darkness that is there. Falsity ‘clouds over truth just as a dark cloud does to the light of the sun. And because falsity and truth cannot be present simultaneously any more than darkness and light, it follows plainly that one goes out as the other comes in. And this being an alternating occurrence reference is therefore made here to ‘clouding over the earth with cloud’, that is, a time when through the will part of the proprium no faith accompanying charity, or truth and derivative good, appears, still less good and derivative truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 1048 1048. ‘And the bow is seen in the cloud’ means when man is still such as to be able to be regenerated. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the bow in the cloud’ which is a sign or token of regeneration, as stated already. Concerning the bow in the cloud there is more to be said: The character of a person, that is, of a soul, after the body has died is known in an instant. The Lord has known that character from eternity, and knows what it is going to be into eternity. A person’s character is perceived by angels the moment he comes near; a certain sphere so to speak emanates from his whole disposition, that is, from every part of him. And this sphere, astonishing though it may seem, is such that from it one perceives what faith and what charity exist with him from whom it emanates. When it pleases the Lord it is that sphere which is made visible as a bow. This sphere will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on. From this it becomes clear what is meant here by ‘the bow when it is seen in the cloud’, namely when a person is such that he can be regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 1049 1049. ‘And I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you’ means the Lord’s mercy specifically towards those who have been regenerated, and those who are able to be. This too follows from what has been said above, for with the Lord ‘remembering’ is the same as showing mercy. The act of remembering cannot be attributed to the Lord since He knows from eternity every single thing. But having mercy can be attributed since He knows man’s nature, namely that his proprium, as stated, is hell-like and constitutes his particular hell. For through the will side of his proprium he communicates with hell; and from hell and of itself that proprium is such that man has no greater or stronger desire than to plunge headlong into hell. Nor is he satisfied with that but desires [to take] everyone in the whole world [with him]. Because man of himself is by nature such a devil, and the Lord knows it, ‘remembering the covenant’ consequently means nothing else than having mercy, regenerating through Divine means, and by a mighty power drawing man towards heaven, insofar as he is such as to make this possible.

AC (Elliott) n. 1050 1050. ‘And with every living soul in all flesh’ means the entire human race. This is clear from the meaning of ‘living soul in all flesh’. Every individual is called ‘a living soul’ from that which is living within him. No one can possibly live, let alone as a human being, if he does not have something living within him, that is, if he does not have some measure of ‘innocence, charity, and mercy, or from these something of a similar or comparable nature. This measure of innocence, charity, and mercy a person receives from the Lord when he is an infant and during childhood, as becomes clear from the state of infants and also from that of childhood. What a person receives at that time is preserved within him, and the things that are preserved are in the Word called ‘remnants’, which are the Lord’s alone with a person. These remnants that are being preserved are what make it possible for someone when he becomes adult to be a human being. Regarding these remnants, see what appears in 468, 530, 560-563, 576.

[2] That the states of innocence, charity, and mercy that have been his in infancy and in childhood years enable a person to be human is quite clear from the fact that man is not born as animals are, ready to perform any of life’s activities, but has to learn how to do every single one. The things he learns to do then become through the performance of them habitual and so to speak natural to him. Man is not even able to walk, or to talk, until he learns how to do so; and the same applies to everything else. Through usage these activities become so to speak natural to him. The situation is the same with regard to the states of innocence, charity, and mercy with which likewise he is endowed from infancy. But for these states man would be far inferior to any animal. These states however are not states that man acquires by learning but ones which he receives as a free gift from the Lord, and which the Lord preserves within him. These, together with truths of faith, are what are also called remnants and are the Lord’s alone. To the extent that a person in adult life destroys these states, he becomes a dead man. When a person is being regenerated these states are the principal agents of regeneration, and he is brought into these states, for, as stated already, the Lord works by means of remnants.

[3] These remnants present with everybody are what are here called ‘the living soul in all flesh’. That ‘all flesh’ means everybody and so the entire human race becomes clear from the meaning of ‘flesh’ in many places in the Word – see what has been shown in 574 – as in Matthew,

Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. Matt. 24:22; Mark 13:20.

In John,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your Son, as You have given Him power over all flesh. John 17:1, 2.

In Isaiah,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it. Isa. 40:5.

In the same prophet,

All flesh will know that I am Jehovah your Saviour. Isa. 49:26.

AC (Elliott) n. 1051 1051. ‘The waters will no more be a flood to destroy all flesh’ means that it will not be possible any more for the understanding part of his mind to soak up the kind of persuasion that would cause him to perish as the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church did. This becomes clear from what has been stated and shown quite often already about the waters of the flood, and also about those people prior to the Flood who perished, namely that with them not only had the will part perished and become hellish but also the understanding part, with the result that they could not be regenerated, that is, a new and different will could not be formed in the understanding part of their minds.

AC (Elliott) n. 1052 1052. Verse 16 And the bow will be in the cloud, and I see it, to remember the eternal covenant between God and every living soul in all flesh that is on the earth.

‘And the bow will be in the cloud’ means the state of that man. ‘And I see it’ means that he is such as can be regenerated. ‘To remember the eternal covenant’ means so that the Lord can be present with him within charity. ‘Between God and every living soul in all flesh that is on the earth’ means all people with whom this can take place. These verses have regard specifically to the person who is able to be regenerated.

AC (Elliott) n. 1053 1053. That ‘and the bow will be in the cloud’ means the state of that man is clear from what has been stated and shown already about the bow in the cloud, that is to say, in the next life a person or soul is known among angels from his sphere; and as often as it pleases the Lord that sphere is
represented by means of colours like those of the rainbow, variously according to each person’s state as to faith in the Lord and thus respectively as to goods and truths of faith. In the next life colours present themselves to view, which on account of their brilliance and splendour are immensely superior in beauty to colours seen with the eyes on earth. Each colour represents something celestial or spiritual.

[2] Those colours derive from the light in heaven, and from the variegation of spiritual light, as stated above. Indeed angels live in light so bright that the light of the world is in comparison no light at all. The light of heaven in which angels live, compared with the light of the world, is as the light of the sun at midday to the light of a candle that is put out and ceases to give any light at all when the sun rises. In heaven there is celestial light and there is spiritual light. Let me compare the two by saying that celestial light is as the light of the sun, while spiritual light is as the light of the moon. But all manner of variation exists depending on the state of the angel receiving the light. The same applies to colours since they are a product of the light. In the heaven of celestial angels the Lord Himself is the Sun, and in the heaven of spiritual angels the Moon. To people who have no conception of the life which souls lead after death these matters are unbelievable. They are nevertheless completely true.

AC (Elliott) n. 1054 1054. ‘I see it’ means that he is such as can be regenerated. This is clear from the fact that in reference to the Lord the expression ‘seeing someone’ means knowing his character. For the Lord knows all people from eternity and has no need to see the character of anyone. When someone is such as can be regenerated, the Lord is spoken of as ‘seeing him’, as He is also said ‘to lift up His face on him’. When however he is unable to be regenerated, the Lord is not spoken of as seeing him or of lifting up His face on him, but is spoken of as ‘turning His eyes or face away from him’, though it is not the Lord who turns these away but man. Consequently in previous verses where the subject has been the whole human race among whom very many are not able to be regenerated, the wording is not ‘when I see the bow in the cloud’, but when the bow is seen in the cloud’, verse 14. The same applies to the Lord’s seeing as to His remembering, which means in the internal sense having mercy, as dealt with above in 840, 1049. See what has appeared already in 626.

AC (Elliott) n. 1055 1055. ‘To remember the eternal covenant’ means so that the Lord can be present with him within charity. This is clear from what has been stated and shown above about the meaning of a covenant, namely, that there is no other eternal covenant except love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. This covenant is eternal because it lasts from eternity into eternity. The whole of heaven is founded on love, as indeed is the whole natural order, for in the natural order nothing whatever exists, possessing any union or conjunction, which does not trace its origin back to love, whether it be animate or inanimate. Indeed everything natural arises from what is spiritual, and what is spiritual does so from what is celestial, as stated above. Consequently love, or the semblance of it, is implanted in every single thing. Man is the only being with whom love does not reside but the contrary, for man has destroyed within himself the order of nature. But when he is able to be regenerated, that is, to be restored again to order and receive mutual love, then the covenant or conjunction by means of charity exists, which is the subject here.

AC (Elliott) n. 1056 1056. ‘Between God and every living soul in all flesh that is on the earth’ means all people with whom this can take place. This is clear from what has been stated, namely that the subject is people who are able to be regenerated. Consequently ‘living soul in all flesh’ does not mean anybody else.

AC (Elliott) n. 1057 1057. Verse 17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I am establishing between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.

‘God said to Noah’ means that the Church would know this. ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I am establishing between Me and all flesh that is on the earth’ means that it was a token of the Lord’s presence in charity not only with the member of the Church but also with him who is outside the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1058 1058. That ‘God said to Noah’ means that the Church would know this is clear from the train of thought, which is not evident except from the internal sense in which these details are knit together in this way. First the subject was the regenerate spiritual person inside the Church; secondly it was everybody throughout the whole world; and thirdly everyone who is able to be regenerated. The present verse is the conclusion to these considerations, namely that the Church would know this. That ‘Noah’ means the Church has been shown already, and here more especially the spiritual Church in general since Noah’s name alone is mentioned. What the Church would know follows next.

AC (Elliott) n. 1059 1059. ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I am establishing between Me and all flesh that is on the earth’ means that it was a token of the Lord’s presence in charity not only with the member of the Church but also with him who is outside the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘all flesh’ as all people, and therefore the whole human race. That the whole human race is meant, both those inside the Church and those outside the Church, is clear not only from the fact that the expression ‘all flesh’ is used but also that the expression ‘living soul in all flesh’, which appeared previously, is not used. And the point is made plainer still by the addition of the phrase ‘which is on the earth’.

[2]That the Lord is as much present in charity with those outside the Church who are called gentiles as with those inside the Church may be seen above in 932, 1032. Indeed He is more present with them, for the reason that there is less cloud in the understanding part of their minds than is normally the case with so-called Christians. Indeed gentiles have no knowledge of the Word and do not know what the Lord is, and as a consequence do not know what the truth of faith is. This being so, they are incapable of opposition to the Lord and to the truth of faith. Consequently their cloud does not stand in opposition to the Lord or to the truth of faith, such cloud being dispersed easily when they are enlightened.

[3] But the cloud existing with Christians does stand in opposition to the Lord and to the truths of faith, and this cloud is so obscure as to be darkness. And when hatred is there instead of charity it is thick darkness. This applies even more to people who profane the truths of faith, something gentiles are incapable of doing because they live in ignorance of the truth of faith. Nobody can profane that of which he does not know the nature or the existence. This explains why more of the gentiles are saved than of Christians, as also the Lord said, in Luke 13:23, 28-30, in addition to saying that their children all belong to the Lord’s kingdom, Matt. 18:10, 14; 19:14; Luke 18:16.

AC (Elliott) n. 1060 1060. Verse 18 And Noah’s sons who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.

‘Noah’s sons who went out of the ark’ means those who constituted the Ancient Church, ‘who went out of the ark’ meaning those who had been regenerated. ‘Shem’ means the internal Church, ‘Ham’ the corrupted Church, ‘Japheth’ the external Church. ‘Ham was the father of Canaan means that from the corrupted Church arose worship in external things devoid of internal, which worship is meant by Canaan.

AC (Elliott) n. 1061 1061. That ‘Noah’s sons who went out of the ark’ means those who constituted the Ancient Church, and ‘who went out of the ark’ those who had been regenerated, is clear from all that follows; for what is involved will be evident from this.

AC (Elliott) n. 1062 1062. That ‘Shem’ means the internal Church, ‘Ham’ the corrupted Church, ‘Japheth’ the external Church, is also clear from what follows, for the nature of each one is described. As with every other Church, the Ancient Church included people who were internal, people who were internal but corrupted, and people who were external. Internal people are those who make charity the chief thing of faith. Corrupted internal people are those who make faith devoid of charity the chief thing of faith. And external people are those who give little thought to the internal man but who nevertheless perform charitable works and reverently keep up the religious observances of the Church. Apart from these three kinds of people no others exist who are to be called members of the spiritual Church. And since they were all members of the Church they are referred to as those who ‘went out of the ark’. Those in the Ancient Church who were internal people, that is, who made charity the chief thing of faith, were called Shem; those in it who were internal but corrupt – namely those who made faith devoid of charity the chief thing of faith – were in the Ancient Church called Ham; while those in that Church who were external and gave little thought to the internal man but who nevertheless performed charitable works and reverently kept up the religious observances of the Church were named Japheth. The nature of each one is dealt with in what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 1063 1063. ‘Ham was the father of Canaan’ means that from the corrupted Church arose worship in external things devoid of internal, which worship is meant by Canaan. This similarly is clear from what follows, for the content of this verse is introductory to what follows. That Ham means the corrupted Church, that is, people who make faith separated from charity the chief thing of religion, is clear in David,

He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Ps. 78:51.

‘The firstborn of Egypt’ represented faith devoid of charity. That faith is called ‘the firstborn of Egypt’, see what has appeared already in 352, 367; and that faith is consequently called ‘the beginning of strength’, as it is here in David, see Gen. 49:3, which refers to Reuben, who, being Jacob’s firstborn, represented faith and is called ‘the beginning of strength’. ‘The tents of Ham’ is worship arising out of such faith. That ‘tents’ means worship, see what has appeared already in 414. Egypt is for this reason called ‘the land of Ham’ in Ps. 105:23, 27; 106:22.

[2] Because such people, who in the Ancient Church were called ‘Ham’, led lives that consisted of every evil desire, and merely babbled on about their being able to be saved by faith no matter how they lived, the ancients saw them as having, from the heat of evil desires, a black appearance; hence they were called Ham*’. The reason Ham is called ‘the father of Canaan’ is that such people do not care at all how a person lives, provided he attends religious services, for they still have the desire for worship of some kind. External worship is the only worship for them. Internal worship, which belongs solely to charity, they reject; which is why Ham is called ‘the father of Canaan’.
* The Hebrew adjective ham means hot.

AC (Elliott) n. 1064 1064. Verse 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was overspread.

‘These three were the sons of Noah’ means these three kinds of doctrines which Churches in general possess. ‘And from them the whole earth was overspread’ means that from these three all doctrines have been derived, both true and false.

AC (Elliott) n. 1065 1065. That ‘these three were the sons of Noah’ means these three kinds of doctrines which Churches in general possess has been stated just above. There are indeed countless less universal types of doctrines, but no further universal types exist. People who do not acknowledge charity, or faith, or external worship, are not part of any Church and are not therefore included since the Church is the subject here.

AC (Elliott) n. 1066 1066. That ‘from them the whole earth was overspread’ means that from these three all doctrines have been derived, both true and false, is clear from the meaning of ‘the earth’. In the Word ‘the earth’ has various meanings. In the universal sense it stands for the place or region where the Church is or once was, for example, the land of Canaan, the land of Judah, the land of Israel. It thus stands in that universal sense for every member of the Church, for a land takes its name from the people who inhabit it, as is also well known from everyday speech. In ancient times therefore when people spoke of ‘the whole earth’ they did not mean every land throughout the world but only that part of the earth where the Church existed, and so the Church itself, as becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Jehovah is emptying the earth, the earth will be utterly emptied. The earth will mourn and be turned upside down. And the earth will be polluted under its inhabitants. Therefore a curse will devour the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth will be scorched and few men left. The floodgates from on high have been opened, and the foundations of the earth have been shaken. The earth has been utterly broken. The earth has been utterly rent asunder. The earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers altogether like a drunken man, and sways to and fro like a hut. Its transgression will lie heavily upon it, and it will fall, and it will not rise again. Isa. 24:1, 3-6, 18-21.

‘Earth’ stands for the people inhabiting it, in particular the people of the Church, and so stands for the Church itself, and the things that are the Church’s that have been vastated. These when being vastated are spoken of as ‘being emptied’, ‘being shaken’, ‘staggering like a drunken man’, ‘swaying’, ‘falling and not rising’.

[2] That ‘earth’ or ‘land’ means man, and consequently the Church which is made up of men, is seen in Malachi,

All the nations will declare you blessed, for you will be a land of delight. Mal. 3:12.
That ‘the earth’ stands for the Church is seen in Isaiah,

Do you not understand the foundations of the earth? Isa. 40:21.

Here ‘foundations of the earth’ stands for the foundations of the Church. In the same prophet,

Behold I am creating new heavens and a new earth. Isa. 65:17; 66:22; Rev. 21:1.

‘New heavens and a new earth’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom and the Church. In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zech. 12:1.

‘Earth’ stands for the Church, as in earlier chapters,

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Gen. 1:1.
The heavens and the earth were finished. Gen. 2:1.
These are the generations of heaven and earth. Gen. 2:4.

In each instance ‘earth’ stands for the Church being ‘created’, ‘formed’, and ‘made’. In Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened. Joel 2:10.

‘Earth’ stands for the Church, and for the things that are the Church’s. When these things are being vastated, ‘heaven and earth’ are said to quake, ‘the sun and moon’ to grow dark, that is, love and faith.

[3] In Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, when behold, that which is void and empty; and to the heavens, and they had no light. Jer. 4:23.

Here ‘the earth’ plainly stands for the person who does not have anything of the Church within him. In the same prophet,

The whole earth will be desolate, yet I will not bring it to a close. For this the earth will mourn and the heavens be black. Jer. 4:27, 18.

Here likewise the Church is meant, whose exterior things are ‘the earth’ and interior ‘the heavens’. These are referred to as ‘being black and having no light’ when there is no longer any wisdom arising from good or intelligence from truth. In that case the earth is also ‘void and empty’, as is the member of the Church who ought to be an embodiment of the Church. That ‘the whole earth’ is also used in other places to mean the Church alone is seen in Daniel,

The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it in pieces. Dan. 7:23.

‘The whole earth’ stands for the Church and for the things that are the Church’s; for the Word does not deal, as secular authors do, with the powers of monarchs, but with sacred matters, and with states of the Church, which are meant by ‘kingdoms of the earth’.

[4] In Jeremiah,

A great tempest will be raised up from the sides of the earth, and the slain* of Jehovah on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. Jer. 15:32, 33.

Here ‘from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth’ stands for the Church and for everything that is the Church’s. In Isaiah,

The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they burst into cries of joy. Isa. 14:7.

Here ‘the whole earth’ stands for the Church. In Ezekiel,

As the whole earth rejoices. Ezek. 35:14.

Here too ‘the whole earth’ stands for the Church. In Isaiah,

I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Isa. 54:9.

Here ‘the earth’ stands for the Church since the Church is the subject here. Because in the Word the earth means the Church it also means what is not the Church, for every such expression has a contrary or opposite sense. This applies, for example, to the various lands of the gentiles, in general to all lands outside the land of Canaan. ‘Land’ also stands therefore for the people and for the individual outside of the Church, and from this for the external man – for his will, for his proprium, and so on.

[5] In the Word ‘earth’ rarely stands for the whole world except when it is used to mean the state of the whole human race, whether of the Church or not of the Church. And because the earth includes the ground, which also means the Church, and the ground includes the field, the expression ‘earth’, entailing many things, has many meanings. But what it means is evident from the subject under discussion to which it refers. From this it now becomes clear that here ‘the whole earth was overspread by the sons of Noah’ does not mean the whole world, that is, the whole human race, but all doctrines, both true and false, which Churches possessed.
* lit. the pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 1067 1067. Verse 20 And Noah began to be a man (vir) of the ground, and planted a vineyard.

‘Noah began to be a man of the ground’ means in general a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith. ‘And he planted a vineyard’ means the Church resulting from this, ‘vineyard’ being the spiritual Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1068 1068. That ‘Noah began to be a man of the ground’ means in general a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’, dealt with already in 268, 566, as the member of the Church, or what amounts to the same, the Church. For if the Church is to exist at all the individual must be the Church. The Church is called ‘the ground’ from the fact that it receives the seeds of faith, which are the truths and goods of faith. ‘The ground’ is distinguished from ‘the earth’ or ‘the land’ – which, as has been shown, also means the Church – as faith is from charity. As charity includes faith within itself so does earth or land include the ground. Consequently when the Church is dealt with in general it is called ‘the earth’ or ‘the land’, and when dealt with specifically it is called ‘the ground’, as here. For that which is general is a complex whole consisting of the things deriving from it. The matters of doctrine which the members of the Ancient Church possessed had come down, as stated already, from revelations and perceptions of the Most Ancient Church which had been preserved, and in which they had faith, such as those we have today in the Word. Those matters of doctrine were their Word. ‘Noah began to be a man of the ground’ therefore means a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 1069 1069. That ‘he planted a vineyard’ means a Church resulting from this, ‘vineyard’ being the spiritual Church, is clear from the meaning of ‘a vineyard’. In the Word Churches are frequently described as ‘gardens’ and also as ‘the trees of a garden’, and are actually named such as well. They are so described from the fruits which the trees bear, which mean the things belonging to love or charity. Hence the saying that a man is known by his fruit. Comparisons of Churches to gardens, trees, and fruits have their origins in the representations in heaven, where also gardens of indescribable beauty are sometimes manifested in accordance with the spheres of faith. This also why the celestial Church was described as a paradisal garden containing trees of every kind. ‘The trees of the garden’ meant the perceptions of that Church, and ‘the fruit’ of every kind the goods that stem from love. The Ancient Church however, being spiritual, is described as ‘a vineyard’ on account of its fruit, namely grapes, which represent and mean charitable works. This is quite clear from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

[2] I will sing for My beloved a song of My beloved concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill,* and He enclosed it, and surrounded it with stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it and also hewed out a winepress in it. And He looked for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard. The vineyard of Jehovah Zebaoth is the house of Israel. Isa. 5:1-3, 7.

Here ‘a vineyard’ means the Ancient, and so the spiritual, Church, which is referred to explicitly as ‘the house of Israel’, for ‘Israel’ in the Word means the spiritual Church, whereas ‘Judah’ means the celestial Church. In Jeremiah,

Again I will build you, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel! Again you will adorn yourself with your timbrels and will go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. Jer. 31:4, 5.

Here ‘vineyard’ stands for the spiritual Church, the subject being Israel, which, as stated, means the spiritual Church.

[3] In Ezekiel,

When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples, they will dwell securely upon the land, and they will build houses and plant vineyards. Ezek. 28:15, 16.

Here ‘vineyard’ stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel. ‘Planting vineyards’ stands for being furnished with truths and goods of faith. In Amos,

I smote you with blight and mildew; your very many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees and your olive groves the locust will devour. Thus will I do to you, O Israel. Amos 4:9, 12.

‘Gardens’ stands for the things of the Church; ‘vineyards’ stands for the spiritual things of the Church, ‘fig trees’ for the natural things, ‘olive groves’ for the celestial things – and so for the things of the spiritual Church, which is Israel. In the same prophet,

I will bring again the captivity; of My people Israel, and they will build the ruined cities and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they will make gardens and eat their fruit. Amos 9:14.

‘Planting vineyards’ stands for the planting of the spiritual Church, and so ‘a vineyard’ stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel.

[4] As ‘a vineyard’ means the spiritual Church so also does ‘the vine’, for the vine is part of the vineyard. They are as Church and member of the Church, and therefore have the same meaning. In Jeremiah,

Is Israel a slave? Is he a home-born [servant]? Why has he become a prey? I had planted you, a wholly choice vine, a seed of truth. How have you turned from Me into the degraded branches of a strange vine? Jer. 2:14, 21.

‘Vine’ stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel. In Ezekiel,

Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel Your mother was like a vine in your likeness, planted beside the waters, fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. Ezek. 19:1, 10.

‘Vine’ stands for the Ancient spiritual Church, meant by ‘mother’, and so for Israel; hence also the expression ‘in your likeness’. In Hosea,

Israel is an empty vine, it bears fruit like itself. Hosea 10:1.

‘Vine’ stands for the spiritual Church, or Israel, in this case a desolated Church. In the same prophet,

Return, O Israel, to Jehovah your God. I will be as the dew to Israel. Those dwelling under His shadow will return, they will give life to the grain, and they will blossom out as the vine, the memory of it will be as the wine of Lebanon. Hosea 14:1, 5, 7.

Here ‘vine’ stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel. In Moses,

Until Shiloh comes . . . binding his colt to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to a choice vine. Gen. 49:10, 11.

This is a prophecy concerning the Lord. ‘Vine’ and ‘choice vine’ stand for spiritual Churches.

[5] The Lord’s parables about workers in vineyards similarly meant spiritual Churches, Matt. 29:1-16; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 10:9-18; Matt. 21:33-44.

Since ‘the vine’ means the spiritual Church, and the chief thing of the spiritual Church is charity within which the Lord is present, by means of which He joins Himself to man, and by means of which He alone works everything good, the Lord therefore compares Himself to the vine, and describes the member of the Church, that is, describes the spiritual Church, in the following way in John,

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, but every one that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:1-5, 12.

From this it is clear what the spiritual Church is.
* lit. on a horn of a son of oil

AC (Elliott) n. 1070 1070. Verse 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunk, and he was uncovered in the middle of his tent.

‘And he drank wine’ means that he wished to probe into matters of faith. ‘And he was drunk’ means that he consequently sank into errors. ‘And he was uncovered in the middle of his tent’ means resulting perversities, ‘the middle of the tent’ being the chief thing of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 1071 1071. That ‘he drank wine’ means that he wished to probe into matters of faith is clear from the meaning of ‘wine’. ‘A vineyard’ or ‘a vine’, as has been shown, is the spiritual Church, or member of the spiritual Church. The grape, clusters, and bunches are its fruit, and these mean charity and what belongs to charity. Wine however means faith deriving from charity, and all things that belong to faith. Thus ‘grape means the celestial aspect of that Church, and ‘wine’ the spiritual. The celestial, as often stated already, comprises the will, while the spiritual comprises the understanding. That ‘he drank of the wine’ means that he wished to probe into matters of faith, and to do so indeed by means of reasonings, is clear from the reason given why ‘he was drunk’, that is, sank into errors. Indeed the member of this Church did not possess any perception at all as the member of the Most Ancient Church had done. Instead he had to acquire knowledge of what good and truth were by learning about them from doctrinal matters concerning faith which had been gathered together and preserved from the perception that had existed in the Most Ancient Church. And these matters of doctrine constituted the Word of the Ancient Church. As with the Word, doctrinal matters concerning faith were in many instances such that, without perception, they could not be believed; for spiritual and celestial things infinitely transcend human comprehension, and this is why reasoning enters in. But the person who refuses to believe those things until he comprehends them is never able to believe, as often shown already. See what appears in 128, 130, 195, 196, 215, 232, 233.

[2] That ‘grapes in the Word means charity and what belongs to charity, and that ‘wine’ means both faith deriving from charity and also matters of faith, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.* He looked for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes. Isa. 5:1, 2, 4.

Here ‘grapes’ stands for charity and the fruits of charity. In Jeremiah,

I will surely gather them, says Jehovah; there will be no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree. Jer, 8:13.

‘Vine’ stands for the spiritual Church, ‘grapes’ for charity. In Hosea,

Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel, like the first fruit on the fig tree, in the beginning, I saw your fathers. Hosea 9:10.

‘Israel’ stands for the Ancient Church, ‘grape’ for the fact that they were endowed with charity. These words are used in the contrary sense when ‘Israel’ stands for the sons of Jacob. In Micah,
There was no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first fruit. The holy man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. Micah 7:1, 2.

‘Cluster’ stands for charity or that which is holy, ‘first fruit’ for faith or that which is upright.

[3] In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it. Isa. 65:8.

‘Cluster’ stands for charity, ‘new wine’ for goods that stem from charity, and truths deriving from these. In Moses,

He washes his clothing in wine, and His garment in the blood of grapes. Gen. 49:11.

This is a prophecy concerning the Lord. ‘Wine’ stands for that which is spiritual deriving from what is celestial, ‘blood of grapes’ for the celestial in respect to spiritual Churches. So ‘grapes’ stands for charity itself, ‘wine’ for faith itself. In John,

The angel said, Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the earth, for its grapes have ripened. Rev. 14:18.

This refers to the last times when there is no faith, that is, when there is no charity. For no faith exists other than that which inheres in charity, and in essence is charity itself. Consequently when it is said that there is no longer any faith, as in the last times, it means that there is no charity.

[4] As ‘grapes’ means charity, so ‘wine’ means faith deriving from charity, for wine is obtained from grapes. In addition to these and previous quotations concerning the vineyard and the vine, the following also make the point clear: In Isaiah,

Gladness and exaltation have been taken away from Carmel, and in the vineyards there is no singing, no joyful noise. No treader treads out wine in the presses; I have made the hedad** to cease. Isa. 16:10.

This stands for the fact that the spiritual Church, meant by ‘Carmel’, has been vastated, ‘none treading wine in the presses’ for the fact that no longer are there any people who possess faith. In the same prophet,

The inhabitants of the earth will be scorched and few men left. The new wine will mourn, the vine will languish; they will not drink wine with singing, strong drink will be bitter to those drinking it; there will be an outcry in the streets over wine. Isa. 24:6, 7, 9, 11.

The vastated spiritual Church being the subject, ‘wine’ stands for truths of faith that are considered valueless. In Jeremiah,

They will say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they faint like one who has been run through in the streets of the city. Lam. 2:12.

‘Where is corn and wine?’ means, Where is love and faith? ‘Streets of the city’ means truths here, as elsewhere in the Word. ‘Those who have been run through in them’ means that they do not know what the truths of faith are.

[5] In Amos,

I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they will build the ruined cities and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine. Amos 9:14.

This refers to the spiritual Church, meant by Israel, to which ‘planting vineyards and drinking wine’ is attributed when it becomes a Church such as derives faith from charity. In Zephaniah,

They will build houses but not inhabit them, and they will plant vineyards but not drink their wine. Zeph. 1:13; Amos 5:11.

Here ‘vineyard’ and ‘wine’ stand for the contrary situation when the spiritual Church has been vastated. In Zechariah,

They will be like a mighty man of Ephraim, and their heart will rejoice as from wine, and their sons will see it and rejoice. Zech. 10:7.

This refers to the house of Judah, that it would be such by virtue of the goods and truths of faith. In John the command not to do harm to oil and wine, Rev. 6:6, stands for doing no harm to what is celestial and spiritual, that is, to things of love and faith.

[6] In the Jewish Church, since ‘wine’ meant faith in the Lord, the libation of wine in the sacrifices also represented faith, as in Num. 15:1-15; 28:11-15, 18-end; 29:7-end; Lev. 23:12, 13; Exod. 29:40. Hence the following is said in Hosea,

Threshing-floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will be deceptive in her. They will not dwell in Jehovah’s land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean: They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah, they will not be pleasing to Him. Hosea 9:1-4.

This refers to Israel, or the spiritual Church, and to those people in it who pervert and defile holy things and the truths of faith by wishing to probe into them by means of knowledge and reasonings. ‘Egypt’ is knowledge, ‘Assyria’ reasoning, and ‘Ephraim’ one who engages in reasoning.
* lit. on a horn of a son of oil
** A Hebrew word which is a shout of exaltation.

AC (Elliott) n. 1072 1072. ‘He was drunk’ means that he consequently sank into errors. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a drunken man’ in the Word. Those people are called drunk who do not believe anything except that of which they have a mental grasp, and who for that reason probe into mysteries of faith. And because they probe into them by means of knowledge, either factual or philosophical, acquired through the senses, man being what he is inevitably sinks as a consequence into errors. Man’s thought is altogether earthly, bodily, and material because it is born of things that are earthly, bodily, and material which cling to it all the time and which the ideas comprising his thought are based on and encompassed by. Consequently to think and reason about Divine matters from such things is to run into errors and perversities, and from that position it is as impossible to acquire faith as it is ‘for a camel to go through the eye of a needle’. The error and insanity that result are in the Word called ‘drunkenness’. What is more, souls or spirits in the next life who reason about and against the truths of faith become like drunken men and behave as these do. These people will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described later on.

[2] Spirits are clearly distinguished from one another as to whether they possess, or do not possess, faith that inheres in charity. Those who possess such faith do not engage in reasoning about the truths of faith. Instead they immediately declare them to be true, and also confirm them, so far as they are able, by means of sensory evidence, factual knowledge, and analytical arguments. But as soon as something obscure comes up which they do not perceive they lay it aside and never allow anything like that to lead them into doubt. They say that the things they are able to grasp are very few and that therefore to think that something is not true because they themselves do not grasp it would be madness. These people are those who are governed by charity. But those who do not possess faith inhering in charity have no other desire than to reason whether a thing is true and to know how it is so. They say that if they cannot know how it is so, they are unable to believe that it is so. From this attitude of mind alone they are instantly recognized as those who have no faith at all, and it is a sign not only that they entertain doubts about everything but also that at heart they are deniers. And even when they are informed as to how something is so they remain unmoved and raise all kinds of objections, and would never give up even if this went on for ever. Those who are thus unmoved pile up errors upon errors. These people, or such as they, are in the Word called ‘drunk from wine or strong drink’.

[3] As in Isaiah,

These err through wine, and go astray through strong drink. The priest and the prophet err through strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine, they err from strong drink. They err in vision. All tables are full of vomit. Whom will He teach knowledge, and whom will He cause to understand the report? Those weaned from milk, those torn away from the breasts? Isa. 28:7-9.

Such people are clearly meant here. In the same prophet,

How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of kings of old? Where are your wise men now? Let them, I pray, tell you. Jehovah has mingled in the midst of her a spirit of perversity, and they have made Egypt err in all her works, as a drunken man errs in his vomit. Isa. 19:11, 12, 14.

‘A drunken man’ stands for people who wish from facts to probe into spiritual and celestial things. ‘Egypt’ means facts, which also is why he calls himself ‘a son of the wise’. In Jeremiah,
Drink and get drunk, and vomit, and fall, and do not get up again. Jer. 25:27. This stands for falsities.

[4] In David,

They reel and stagger like a drunken man, and all their wisdom will be swallowed up. Ps. 107:27.

In Isaiah,

Come, I will get wine, and we will be drunken from strong drink, and tomorrow will be like this day, a great abundance. Isa. 56:12.

This has reference to things that are contrary to the truths of faith. In Jeremiah,

Every wineskin will be filled with wine, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness. Jer. 13:12, 13.

‘Wine’ stands for faith, ‘drunkenness’ for errors. In Joel,

Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, over the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation is coming up over My land; it is turning My vine into a desolation. Joel 1:5-7.

This refers to the Church vastated as regards truths of faith. In John,

Babylon caused all nations to drink from the wine of the anger of whoredom. The inhabitants of the earth have got drunk with the wine of whoredom. Rev. 14:8, 10; 16:19; 17:2; 18:3; 19:15.

‘The wine of whoredom’ stands for adulterated truths of faith, to which ‘drunkenness’ has reference. Similarly in Jeremiah,

Babel was a golden cup in Jehovah’s hand, making all the earth drunken. The nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. Jer. 51:7.

[5] Since ‘drunkenness’ meant inanities surrounding truths of faith, it also became representative; and Aaron was forbidden to be drunk, as the following shows,

Aaron and his sons were not to drink wine and intoxicating drink when they entered the Tent [of Meeting] lest they died, so that they might distinguish between what was holy and what was unholy, what was unclean and what was clean. Lev. 10:8-10.

People who believe nothing except what they grasp through sensory evidence and factual knowledge are also called in Isaiah ‘heroes at drinking’,

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and in their own sight intelligent! Woe to heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink! Isa. 5:21, 22.

They are called ‘wise in their own eyes, and in their own sight intelligent’ because people who reason against truths of faith imagine that they are wiser than everybody else.

[6] People however who pay no attention to the Word and the truths of faith, and thus who are unwilling to know anything about faith, and so deny its fundamental teachings, are called ‘drunk without wine’. In Isaiah,

They were drunk but not with wine, they were staggering, but not with strong drink. For Jehovah has poured out upon you a Spirit of sleep, and has closed your eyes. Isa. 19:9, 10.

That they are such is clear from what comes before and after this description of them in the prophet. People who are ‘drunk’ in this sense imagine that they are more alert than anybody else, yet they are in a deep sleep. The fact that the Ancient Church when it began was such as is described in this verse, especially those who belonged to the stock of the Most Ancient Church, becomes clear from what has been stated already in 788.

AC (Elliott) n. 1073 1073. ‘He was uncovered in the middle of his tent’ means resulting perversities. This is clear from the meaning of being ‘uncovered’ or naked. For someone is called uncovered and naked from drunkenness caused by wine when no truths of faith reside with him, and more so when perversities reside there. Truths of faith themselves are compared to garments that clothe charity or the goods that stem from charity, for charity is the body itself, and truths therefore the garments. Or what is equally the case, charity is the soul itself, while truths of faith are like the body that is the clothing for the soul. What is more, in the Word the truths of faith are called ‘garments’ and ‘a covering’; hence the statement in verse 23 below that ‘Shem and Japheth took a garment and covered their father’s nakedness’. The relationship of spiritual things to celestial is like that of the body that clothes the soul, or like garments clothing the body, and indeed in heaven spiritual things are represented by garments. Here, because it is said that ‘he lay uncovered’, it means that he divested himself of the truths of faith through desiring to probe into them by means of sensory evidence and reasonings based on this. Similar concepts are meant in the Word by ‘lying naked as a result of being drunk from wine’, as in Jeremiah,

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz. Over you also the cup will pass, you will become drunk and strip yourself naked. Lam. 4:11.

And in Habakkuk,

Woe to him who makes his neighbour drink, and by also making them drunk to look upon their nakedness. Hab. 2:15.

AC (Elliott) n. 1074 1074. ‘The middle of the tent’ is the chief thing of faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the middle’ and from the meaning of ‘a tent’. In the Word ‘the middle’ means that which is inmost, and ‘tent’ charity, or worship deriving from charity. Charity is the inmost, that is, the chief thing of faith and worship, and so is ‘the middle of the tent’. That ‘the middle’ means that which is inmost has been shown already, and that ‘tent’ means the holiness of love, which is charity, see what has appeared already in 414.

AC (Elliott) n. 1075 1075. Verse 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and pointed it out to his two brothers outside.

‘Ham’ and ‘Canaan’ have the same meaning here as previously – ‘Ham’ the corrupted Church, ‘Canaan’ worship in external things devoid of internal. ‘He saw his father’s nakedness’ means that he noticed the errors and perversities mentioned already. ‘And he pointed it out to his two brothers outside’ means that he mocked. They are called ‘his brothers’ because he professed faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 1076 1076. That ‘Ham’ means the corrupted Church is clear from what has been stated already about ‘Ham’. A Church is called corrupted which acknowledges the Word and has a certain worship similar to that of the true Church but nevertheless separates faith from charity, and so separates it from its essential element and very life. As a consequence faith becomes a thing that is dead, with the result that the Church is inevitably corrupted. What kind of people its members become is made clear by the fact that they cannot possibly have any conscience; for conscience that is truly conscience never exists unless it derives from charity. Charity is what makes conscience, that is, the Lord does so by means of charity. What is conscience but not doing wrong to anyone in any way at all, or doing well to everybody in every possible way? So conscience is an attribute of charity and never of faith separated from charity. If such persons do have any conscience it is a false conscience, about which see what has appeared already. And because they are devoid of conscience they rush into everything unspeakable, so far as external restraints are removed.

[2] Nor indeed do these people know what charity is, but only that it is a word having some meaning. And being devoid of charity they do not know what faith is. When questioned they can only reply that it is a sort of thought Some reply that it is trust, others that it is cognitions of faith. A few say that it is living according to those cognitions, while scarcely any say that it is the life of charity, that is, of mutual love. And if they are told this and are given the opportunity to reflect, their only reply is that all love begins from self, and that anyone who does not consider his own interests and his family’s is worse than a heathen. Consequently they are concerned about nothing but themselves and the world. This leads to their living in the proprium, the nature of which has been described frequently already. These are the people who are called ‘Ham’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1077 1077. The reason the people who are here called ‘Ham’ and ‘Canaan’, that is, who separate faith from charity and who in so doing focus worship solely on external things, cannot know what conscience is and where it originates, must be discussed briefly. Conscience is formed by means of the truths of faith, for what a person has heard, acknowledged, and believed constitutes conscience with him. After that, acting contrary to those things is for him acting contrary to conscience, as may become quite clear to anyone. Consequently unless it is the truths of faith that he hears, acknowledges, and believes, he cannot possibly have a true conscience. For it is by means of the truths of faith, with the Lord working within charity, that a person is regenerated, and so by means of them receives conscience. Conscience is also the new person himself. From this it is clear that truths of faith are the means by which this is achieved, that is, by which a person lives according to the things faith teaches, its fundamental teaching being to love the Lord above all things and the neighbour as oneself. If he does not live according to those truths, what is faith but something hollow, and an audible sound, or something separated from heavenly life, in which, once separated, there is nothing saving? For to believe that a person can still be saved no matter how he lives, provided he has faith, is to say that he is saved even though he has no charity and even though he has no conscience. It amounts to saying that, provided he has faith, even though he does not have it until the last hour of life, he can be saved, despite spending his time hating, getting revenge, plundering, and committing adultery, in short, doing everything contrary to charity and conscience. Let such people, when governed by an assumption as false as this, ponder what truth of faith exists that can form their conscience. Will it not be that which is false? If they imagine that they have any conscience at all, it amounts to no more than external restraints – fear of the law, of loss of position, wealth, and reputation on account of these, which fears constitute with them what they call conscience, a conscience which says that they should do no harm to the neighbour but behave well towards him. Since however this is not conscience, because it is not charity, such persons consequently rush into the most wicked and disgusting actions as soon as those restraints have been loosed or done away with. But the situation is altogether different with people who, though asserting that faith alone saves, have nevertheless led charitable lives; for their faith has had charity from the Lord within it.

AC (Elliott) n. 1078 1078. That ‘the father of Canaan’ means worship in external things devoid of internal has been discussed already. From faith separated from charity no other kind of worship can possibly arise. Indeed the internal man is charity, and never faith devoid of charity. This is why the person who is destitute of charity cannot possibly have any other kind of worship than external devoid of internal. And because it is from faith separated from charity that such worship arises, Ham was called ‘the father of Canaan’, and in what follows Ham is not the subject, but Canaan.

AC (Elliott) n. 1079 1079. ‘He saw his father’s nakedness’ means that he noticed the errors and perversities. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘nakedness’, dealt with just above and also previously in 213, 214, as evil and perversity. Here Ham’s noticing his father’s nakedness, that is, his errors and perversities, describes people with whom faith is separated from charity. Such people see nothing else but errors and perversities residing with a person. But those who have faith that inheres in charity are different. They notice the goods, and if they do see evils and falsities they excuse them, and if possible endeavour with that person to correct them, as is said here of Shem and Japheth.

[2] Where charity does not exist self-love is present and consequently hatred towards all who do not show favour to self. As a result they see in the neighbour nothing except his evil. Or if they do see anything good they either perceive it as nothing or else place a bad interpretation on it. It is altogether otherwise with those with whom charity is present. And from such presence or absence of charity these two kinds of people are distinguished from each other. Especially when they enter the next life, with those who have no charity, a feeling of hatred is manifest in every single thing; they wish to try everyone and indeed to pass judgement on them. Their one desire is to discover what is evil in them, all the time having it in mind to condemn, punish, and torment. But those who have charity hardly notice the evil in another person, but instead notice all the goods and truths that are his; and on his evils and falsities they place a good interpretation. Of such a nature are all angels, it being something they have from the Lord, who bends everything evil into good.

AC (Elliott) n. 1080 1080. ‘He pointed it out to his two brothers’ means that he mocked. This now follows from what is said above, for with people who have no charity there is unending contempt of others, that is, unending mockery of them. And as often as the occasion allows, errors are exposed. They are prevented from doing this openly solely by external restraints – by fear of the law, fear for their life, fear of losing their position, wealth, and reputation on account of these. Consequently they harbour such contempt inwardly, but outwardly produce a semblance of friendship to others. As a result of this they acquire two spheres, which are perceived clearly in the next life. The first, which is interior, is full of hatred; the second, which is exterior, is a mere semblance of good. And because these spheres are in complete disagreement, they inevitably conflict. This also is why when the exterior sphere is taken away from them so that they are not able to dissemble they rush into everything unspeakable. And when it is not taken away, the hatred, which is perceived, lurks in every word they speak. From this arise their punishments and torments.

AC (Elliott) n. 1081 1081. That they are called ‘his brothers’ because he professed faith is clear from what has been shown in 367 to the effect that charity is ‘the brother’ of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 1082 1082. Verse 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment and both of them put it on a shoulder, and went backwards and covered their father’s nakedness; and their faces were backwards, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. ‘Shem’, as stated, means the internal Church, ‘Japheth’ the external Church corresponding to it. ‘They took a garment’ means that they placed a good interpretation on it. ‘And both of them put it on a shoulder’ means that they did so with all the power they possessed. ‘And they went backwards’ means that they took no notice of errors and perversities. ‘And covered their father’s nakedness’ means that in this way they excused those things. ‘And their faces were backwards, and they did not see their father’s nakedness’ means that this is what ought to be done and that no notice ought to be taken of such things as errors and faults resulting from reasonings.

AC (Elliott) n. 1083 1083. That ‘Shem’ means the internal Church, ‘Japheth’ the external Church corresponding to it, has been discussed already. Where the Church exists it must necessarily possess an internal aspect and an external; for a human being, who is the Church, is both internal and external. Before he becomes the Church, that is, before he has been regenerated, he is engrossed in things that are external. But when undergoing regeneration he is led away from external things – or rather by means of external things – towards internal, as stated and shown already. But once he has been regenerated, all things that belong to the internal man are encompassed in the things that are external. Thus every Church must necessarily be internal and external, as the Ancient Church was, and as the Christian Church is today.

[2] The internal aspects of the Ancient Church comprised all things that belong to charity and to faith deriving from charity, all humbleness, all worship of the Lord that stems from charity, every good affection towards the neighbour, and other aspects like these. The external features of that Church were sacrifices, drink-offerings, and much else, all of which, by means of representation, were directed to the Lord and had regard to Him. Consequently things of an internal nature existed within those that were external and made a single Church. The internal features of the Christian Church are just the same as the internal features of the Ancient Church, but different externals have ensued. That is to say, instead of sacrifices and the like, [the Christian Church] has sacraments which in a similar way have regard to the Lord. So in the Christian Church also things that are internal and those that are external make one.

[3] The Ancient Church did not differ in the slightest from the Christian Church as to its internal features, only as to its external. Worship of the Lord that stems from charity cannot possibly be different, no matter how much externals may vary. And since, as stated, no Church can exist unless there is that which is internal and that which is external, the internal without the external would be something unbounded if it were not encompassed by something external. For mankind is such, and indeed the vast majority, that it does not know what the internal man is, and what belongs to the internal man. Without external worship therefore, mankind would have no knowledge at all of what is holy.

[4] As long as these people have charity and consequently conscience, they have internal worship residing with them in their external worship. For the Lord residing with them is at work in charity and in conscience, and He causes all their worship to partake of what is internal. It is otherwise with people who have no charity and consequently no conscience. They are indeed able to have worship in externals, yet it is separated from internal worship, as their faith is separated from charity. Such worship is called ‘Canaan’ and such faith ‘Ham’. And because such worship is the product of separated faith, Ham is called ‘the father of Canaan’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1084 1084. ‘They took a garment’ means that they placed a good interpretation on it. This is clear from what has been stated already. ‘Taking a garment and covering someone’s nakedness’ can have no other meaning when ‘being uncovered’ and ‘nakedness’ mean errors and perversities.

AC (Elliott) n. 1085 1085. ‘They put it on a shoulder’ means that they did so with all the power they had, that is to say, they placed a good interpretation on it and excused it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘shoulder’ as all power. In the Word ‘hand’ means power, as shown already. ‘Arm’ means greater
power still, while ‘shoulder’ means all power, as becomes clear also from the following places in the Word: In Ezekiel,

You push with side and with shoulder, and butt with your horns all the weak sheep till you have scattered them abroad. Ezek. 34:21.

‘With side and with shoulder’ here stands for all their soul and all their power; and ‘butting with horns’ stands for all their strength.

[2] In the same prophet,

That all the inhabitants of Egypt may know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they grasp you with the hand you will be broken, and will tear for them every shoulder. Ezek. 29:6, 7.

This refers to people who wish to probe into spiritual truths by means of facts. ‘A staff of reed’ stands for power of this kind, ‘taking with the hand’ stands for trusting in it, ‘tearing every shoulder’ for being deprived of all power so that they may know nothing. In Zephaniah,

That all of them may call on the name of Jehovah to serve Him with one shoulder. Zeph, 3:9.

‘One shoulder’ stands for doing so with one soul. and so with one power.

[3] In Zechariah,

They refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder. Zech. 7:11.

This stands for their resisting with all the power they had. In Isaiah,

They hire a smith who makes gold and silver into God. They worship, they even bow down to it. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it. Isa. 46:6, 7.

‘Shoulder’ stands for their worshipping the idol with all the power they have, which is ‘bearing on the shoulder’.

[4] In the same prophet,

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.

This refers to the Lord, and at this point to the power He has and exercises – hence the phrase ‘upon His shoulder’. In the same prophet,

I will place the key of the house of David on His shoulder, and He will open and none will shut; and He will shut and none will open.

This similarly refers to the Lord, placing on the shoulder the key of the house of David’ standing for the power He has and exercises.

AC (Elliott) n. 1086 1086. ‘They went backwards’ means that they took no notice of errors and perversities This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘going backwards’ as turning away the eyes and not seeing, as is also evident from what follows where it is said that ‘they did not see their father’s nakedness’. In the internal sense ‘not seeing’ is taking no notice of.

AC (Elliott) n. 1087 1087. They covered their father’s nakedness’ means that in this way they excused those things. This is equally clear from the train of thought, and also from the meaning of ‘nakedness’ as perversities.

AC (Elliott) n. 1088 1088. ‘Their faces were backwards, and they did not see their father’s nakedness’ means that this is what ought to be done and that no notice ought to be taken of such things as errors and faults resulting from reasonings. This is clear from the fact that this statement is a repetition, for this wording is almost the same as that immediately previous and therefore also serves as the conclusion to it. For this parent Church, or member of this Church, was such that it acted in this fashion not out of evil-mindedness but in simplicity, as becomes clear from what follows next where it is said that ‘Noah awoke from his wine’, that is, was better informed.

[2] In regard to the subject under discussion, people with whom no charity is present think nothing else than evil of the neighbour and speak nothing but evil. If they say anything good it is for the sake of themselves or of one with whom they seek to curry favour under an outward show of friendship. But people in whom charity is present think nothing else than good of the neighbour and speak nothing but good, and this not for their own sake or that of him with whom they seek to curry favour, but from the Lord thus at work within charity. The former are like evil spirits, the latter like angels, residing with someone. Evil spirits never do anything else than stir up a person’s evils and falsities and condemn him. Angels however stir up nothing but goods and truths; and things that are evil and false they excuse. From these considerations it is clear that with those in whom no charity is present evil spirits have dominion, through whom man communicates with hell; and with those in whom charity is present angels have dominion, through whom man communicates with heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 1089 1089. Verse 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and realized what his younger son had done to him.

‘Noah awoke from his wine’ means when he was better informed. ‘And realized what his younger son had done to him’ means that external worship separated from internal is such as mocks.

AC (Elliott) n. 1090 1090. That ‘Noah awoke from his wine’ means when he was better informed is clear from the meaning of ‘awakening after drunkenness’. When he was ‘drunk’, verse 21, meant that he sank into errors, and therefore ‘awakening’ is nothing else than emerging from errors.

AC (Elliott) n. 1091 1091. ‘What his younger son had done to him’ means that external worship separated from internal is such as mocks. From the sense of the letter, which is the historical sense, ‘younger son’ seems to mean Ham, but from the verse following it is clear that Canaan is meant, for the phrase ‘Cursed be Canaan’ is used. And in the subsequent verses 26, 27, it is said that ‘Canaan will be a slave’. The reason why nothing is mentioned concerning Ham may be seen in the following verse. All that need be mentioned here is why Shem is named first, Ham second, Japheth third, and Canaan fourth. Charity, meant by Shem, is the first thing of the Church; faith, meant by Ham, is the second; worship arising from charity, meant by Japheth, is the third; and worship in external things devoid of faith and charity, meant by Canaan, is the fourth. Charity is the brother of faith, and so too is worship arising from charity. But worship in external things devoid of charity is ‘a slave of slaves’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1092 1092. Verse 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan, a slave of slaves will he be to his brothers.

‘Cursed be Canaan’ means that external worship separated from internal turned itself away from the Lord. ‘A slave of slaves will he be to his brothers’ means the lowest thing in the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1093 1093. That ‘cursed be Canaan’ means that external worship separated from internal turned itself away from the Lord is clear from the meaning of ‘Canaan’ and from the meaning of ‘being cursed’. That ‘Canaan’ is external worship separated from internal is clear from what has been stated already about Canaan, also from his being called ‘cursed’; and from what follows about his being ‘a slave of slaves’. And being a slave both to Shem and to Japheth cannot mean anything other than something separated from the Church itself, such as worship that is wholly external. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being cursed’ as turning oneself away, for the Lord in no way curses anybody, or is even angry. Instead it is man who brings the curse upon himself by turning himself away from the Lord. On these points see what has been shown already in 223, 245, 592. The Lord is as far from cursing or being angry with anyone as the sky is from the earth. Who can believe that the Lord, who is all-knowing and all-powerful, who with wisdom rules the universe, and so who is infinitely superior to all [human] weaknesses, is angry with such pitifully worthless dust, that is, with human beings who scarcely know anything of what they do and who of themselves are incapable of anything other than evil? With the Lord therefore anger is never present, only mercy.

[2] That arcana are contained here can be seen merely from the consideration that even though it was Ham who saw his father’s nakedness and pointed it out to his brothers, he was not cursed but his son Canaan, who was not his only son nor even the firstborn but the fourth in line, as is clear from Chapter 10:6 later on, where the sons of Ham are mentioned as being Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. It can in addition be seen from the Divine Law that no son was to bear his father’s iniquity, as is clear in Ezekiel,

The soul that has sinned will die. The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father bear the iniquity of the son. Ezek. 18:20; Deut. 14:16; 2 Kings 14:6.

And the same can also be seen from the consideration that this iniquity of merely seeing his father’s nakedness and pointing it out to his brothers seems too slight for all of his descendants ever to have been cursed on that account. From these considerations it is clear that arcana are contained here.

[3] The reason Ham is not mentioned here but Canaan is that Ham means faith separated from charity in the spiritual Church, which cannot be cursed because in that Church faith has holiness present within it because truth is present there. And although there is no faith when there is no charity, it is still possible – since it is by means of the cognitions of faith that a person is regenerated – for separated faith to be allied to charity, and in this way to be in some sense ‘a brother’ or may become one. This was why Canaan was cursed and not Ham. Furthermore the inhabitants of the land of Canaan were for the most part people such as made all worship consist in external things, the Jews there as much as the gentiles. These are the arcana contained here, but for which Canaan would never have been substituted for Ham. That external worship separated from internal turns itself away and so brings a curse on itself is quite clear from the fact that people whose worship is external have no regard for anything other than worldly, bodily, and earthly things. Thus they look downwards, and immerse their minds (animus) and life in those things; such will be dealt with a little further on.

AC (Elliott) n. 1094 1094. ‘A slave of slaves will he be to his brothers’ means the lowest thing in the Church. This is clear from the nature of external worship separated from internal. That external worship regarded in itself is nothing at all unless internal worship exists to sanctify it may become clear to anyone. What is external adoration without adoration of the heart but a mere gesture of the body? What is prayer on the lips if the mind is not in it but a meaningless babble? And what is any activity if there is no intention within it but a kind of nothing? Consequently everything external is in itself something soulless, living solely from that which is internal.

[2] The character of external worship separated from internal has been made clear to me from many experiences in the next life. The sorceresses and witches there attended church and the sacraments during their lifetime as frequently as any others did. The deceitful likewise, indeed more often than others; and so also those who delighted in robbery, as well as the avaricious. Yet they are in hell where they utterly hate the Lord and the neighbour intensely. With them internal worship had been present in the external either to the intent that the world might see it, or so that they might gain possession of the worldly, earthly, and bodily things they coveted, or so that they might mislead by an outward show of holiness. Or it may have been out of an acquired habit. That such people are very prone to worshipping whichever god or idol favours them and their own evil desires is quite clear. This is especially clear from the Jews who, because they made worship consist in nothing except external things, fell away so many times into idolatry. The reason is that such worship in itself is altogether idolatrous, for they are worshipping what is external.

[3] The external worship of the nations in the land of Canaan, who worshipped the baals and other gods, was very similar. They had not only temples and altars but also sacrifices, so that their external worship differed little from the worship of the Jews. The only difference was that the name they had for their god was Baal, Ashtaroth, or some other, whereas the Jews had the name Jehovah. As they also do even today, the Jews imagined that merely the naming of Jehovah made them holy and chosen people, when in fact that led rather to greater condemnation of them than of others. For that naming made them capable of profaning what was holy, which the gentiles could not do. Such is the worship called ‘Canaan’, who is referred to as ‘a slave of slaves’. That ‘a slave of slaves’ means the lowest thing in the Church may be seen in the next verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 1095 1095. Verse 26 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem, and Canaan will be a slave to him.

‘Blessed be Jehovah, [God] of Shem’ means every good imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal, ‘Shem’ being the internal Church ‘And Canaan will be a slave to him’ means that such people as make worship consist solely in external things are among those who are able to perform inferior services to members of the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1096 1096. That ‘blessed be Jehovah, [God] of Shem’ means every good imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal becomes clear from the meaning of ‘blessed’. Blessing entails every good – celestial and spiritual, and natural as well. All these are meant in the internal sense by blessing, while in the external sense it means all worldly, bodily, and earthly good. But if the latter are to be a blessing, it is vital that they derive from internal blessing, for this alone is real blessing since it is eternal and is joined with all happiness. It is the Essential Being (Esse) of all blessings. For what has Being apart from that which is eternal? Everything else that has being is non-eternal. In early times it was customary to say ‘Blessed be Jehovah’, by which people meant that every blessing, that is, all good, flows from Him. It was also a way of expressing thanks for the Lord’s blessing or having blessed them, as in David, Ps 28:6; 71:21; 41:13; 66:20; 68:19, 35; 72:18, 19; 89:52; 119:12; 124:6; 135:21; 144:1, and in other places besides these.

[2] The expression ‘blessed be Jehovah God’ is used because Shem, or the internal Church, is the subject. That Church is called an internal Church by virtue of charity. It is in charity that the Lord is present, Who is therefore called ‘Jehovah God’ here. But He is not called this in the external Church, for although the Lord is present there, that presence is not the same as with the member of the internal Church. The member of the external Church still believes that he himself is the source of the good deeds of charity which he performs. Consequently when the subject is the member of the external Church the Lord is called God, as He is in the next verse in reference to Japheth – ‘God enlarge Japheth’. That every good imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal is meant becomes clear also from the order of things. The order is this: From the Lord comes everything celestial, from the celestial comes everything spiritual, from the spiritual comes everything natural. Such is the order by which all things are brought into being, and therefore is the order belonging to influx.

[3] That which is celestial is love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Where there is no love, the chain is broken and the Lord not present For He flows in solely by way of that which is celestial, that is, by way of love. When that which is celestial does not exist, that which is spiritual cannot either, for everything spiritual comes from the Lord by way of the celestial. That which is spiritual is faith. Consequently faith does not exist unless it comes from the Lord by way of charity or love. And the same applies to the natural. It is according to this same order that all goods flow in. From this it follows that every good is imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal, that is, from charity. But to those who do not do so from charity no good is imparted, but only an imitation of good which is in itself evil, as the delight accompanying hatred and adultery, which regarded in itself is an absolutely foul delight, into which it is also converted in the next life.

AC (Elliott) n. 1097 1097. ‘Canaan will be a slave to him’ means that such people as make worship consist solely in external things are among those who are able to perform inferior services to members of the Church. This becomes clear especially from the representatives in the Jewish Church. In the Jewish Church the internal Church was represented by Judah and Israel – the celestial Church by Judah, the spiritual by Israel – and the external Church by Jacob. People however who made worship consist solely in external things were represented by ‘the gentiles’ whom they called foreigners. The latter were to be ‘their slaves’ and were to perform inferior services in the Church, as in Isaiah,

Aliens will stand and pasture your flock, and sons of the foreigner will be your field-workers and your vine-dressers; and you will be called the priests of Jehovah, you will be spoken of as the ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of the gentiles, and in their glory will you glory. Isa. 61:5, 6.

Here celestial people are called ‘the priests of Jehovah’, spiritual people ‘the ministers of God’, while those who made worship consist solely in external things are called ‘sons of the foreigner’ who were to serve in their fields and vineyards.

[2] In the same prophet,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. Isa. 60:10.

Here similar reference is made to the service they were to render. In reference to the Gibeonites the following is said in Joshua,

You are cursed, and some of you will always be slaves,* both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. Joshua made them on that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, especially for the altar of Jehovah. Josh. 9:23, 27.

It may be seen elsewhere whom the Gibeonites represented because of the covenant made with them, even though they belonged among those who were to be servants in the Church. Regarding foreigners, the law was laid down that if they would accept peace and open their gates they would become tributary and serve,** Deut. 20:11; 1 Kings 9:21, 22. Every single detail written down in the Word concerning the Jewish Church was representative of the Lord’s kingdom. The Lord’s kingdom is such that everyone, no matter who or what kind of person, must perform a use. In His kingdom the Lord looks to nothing else than use. Even those in hell have to perform a use, though the uses they do perform are the lowest of all. Among those performing inferior uses are people in the next life whose worship has been wholly external, separated from internal.

[3] Furthermore representatives in the Jewish Church were such that no attention was paid to the person who represented, but to that which was represented by him. The Jews, for example, who were anything but celestial people, nevertheless represented these, while Israel, anything but a spiritual man, nevertheless represented that man; and it was similar with Jacob and the rest. The same applied to kings and priests; they nevertheless represented the Kingship and Holiness of the Lord. This matter becomes clearer still from the fact that even inanimate objects were representative, such as Aaron’s garments, the altar itself, the tables with the leaves on them, the lamps, bread and wine; as well as oxen, calves, goats, sheep, kids, lambs, doves, and pigeons. And because the sons of Judah and Israel did no more than represent the internal and the external worship of the Lord’s Church, and yet more than anybody else made all worship consist merely in external things, it is therefore they, more than all others, who may be called ‘Canaan’ according to his meaning here.
* lit. and there will not be cut off from you the slave
** lit. they would become tribute [taking the form] of a serving one

AC (Elliott) n. 1098 1098. What ‘Shem’ and ‘Japheth’ mean – that is, who the member of the internal Church is and who the member of the external – and from this what ‘Canaan’ means, becomes clear from the following considerations: The member of the internal Church ascribes to the Lord all the good he does and all the truth he thinks, whereas the member of the external Church has no knowledge of this but nevertheless does what is good. The member of the internal Church makes worship of the Lord from charity – and especially internal worship – the essential, and external worship not so essential. The member of the external Church makes external worship the essential. He does not know what internal worship is, even though he has it. Consequently the member of the internal Church believes that he is acting contrary to conscience if he does not worship the Lord from what is internal, whereas the member of the external Church believes he is acting contrary to conscience if he does not reverently observe external rites. The conscience of the member of the internal Church contains more things because he knows more things from the internal sense of the Word, whereas the conscience of the member of the external Church contains fewer because he knows few things from the internal sense of the Word. The former – the member of the internal Church – is called ‘Shem’, whereas the latter – the member of the external Church – is called ‘Japheth’. The person however who makes worship consist solely in external things and who has no charity, and consequently no conscience, is called ‘Canaan’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1099 1099. Verse 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and he will dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan will be his slave. Japheth’, as previously, means a corresponding external Church. ‘May God enlarge Japheth’ means the enlightenment of that Church. ‘And he will dwell in the tents of Shem’ means so that the internal features of worship may be present in the external features. ‘And Canaan will be his slave’ means here, as previously, that people who make worship consist solely in external things are able to perform inferior services.

AC (Elliott) n. 1100 1100. That ‘Japheth’ means a corresponding external Church has been discussed already; so also has what is meant by an external Church, namely that it is external worship, and so people who do not know what the internal man is and what belongs to the internal man, but who nevertheless lead charitable lives. With them the Lord is just as much present, for the Lord works by means of charity wherever charity exists. It is as with young children. Although these do not know what charity is, still less what faith is, the Lord is nevertheless far more present with them than with adults, especially when young children lead mutually charitable lives. He is in the same way present with simple people who have innocence, charity, and mercy within them. A person’s knowing much counts for nothing if he does not live in accordance with what he knows, for the sole purpose of knowledge is that by means of it a person may become good. Once he has become good he possesses far more than someone who knows a vast amount and yet is not good, for what the latter seeks to find through many channels, the former possesses already. It is altogether different in the case of one who knows many truths and goods, and who at the same time has charity and conscience and is a member of the internal Church, which is ‘Shem’. People who know little but have conscience are enlightened in the next life even to the point of their becoming angels whose wisdom and intelligence are beyond description. These people are meant by ‘Japheth’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1101 1101. ‘May God enlarge Japheth’ means the enlightenment of that Church. In the literal sense ‘enlarging’ means extending boundaries, but in the internal sense it means being enlightened. Indeed enlightenment is an extension so to speak of the boundaries of wisdom and intelligence, as in Isaiah,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out. Isa. 54:2.

This stands for enlightenment in spiritual things. The member of the external Church is ‘enlarged’ when he receives instruction in truths and goods of faith. And because charity is present in him he is by this means confirmed more and more. Also, the more instruction he receives the more the cloud is dispersed in the understanding part of his mind in which charity and conscience are present.

AC (Elliott) n. 1102 1102. ‘He will dwell in the tents of Shem’ means so that the internal features of worship may be present in the external features. This becomes clear from all that has been stated already about Shem, to the effect that ‘Shem’ is the internal Church or internal worship, and that external worship is something altogether soulless or unclean if it does not have internal worship to give it life and sanctify it. That ‘tents’ means nothing else than the holiness of love and worship arising out of this becomes clear from the meaning of ‘tents’ dealt with already in 414. Among the ancients ‘wandering about and dwelling in tents’ was common expression, and by ‘tents’ in the internal sense was meant holy worship, for the reason that the most ancient people not only wandered about with tents but also dwelt in tents and used to celebrate holy worship in them. Consequently ‘wandering about and dwelling’ also meant in the internal sense living.

[2] In addition to the places quoted already in 414, let the following as well serve to confirm that ‘tents’ means holy worship: In David,

God forsook the dwelling-place at Shiloh, the tent where He dwelt with man. Ps. 78:60.

Here ‘tent’ has a similar meaning to the Temple, in which God is said ‘to dwell’ when He is present with someone within love. For this reason the individual in whose life holy worship had a place was called by the ancients ‘a tent’, and later ‘a temple’. In Isaiah,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out. Isa. 54:1.

This stands for enlightenment in the things that belong to true worship. In Jeremiah,

The whole land has been laid waste; suddenly MY tents have been laid waste, My curtains in a moment. Jer. 4:20.

Here it is quite evident that tents are not meant but holy worship. In Zechariah,

Jerusalem will dwell yet again in her own place, in Jerusalem Jehovah will save the tents of Judah. Zech. 12:6, 7.

Here ‘the tents of Judah’ stands for worship of the Lord arising out of the holiness of love.

[3] From these quotations it now becomes clear what ‘dwelling in the tents of Shem’ means, namely, so that internal worship may be present in external. But because ‘Japheth’, the member of the external Church, has little knowledge of what internal things are, a brief description of him will be given. When a person feels or perceives within himself that he has thoughts regarding the Lord which are good and thoughts regarding the neighbor which are good, and he wishes to perform acts of kindness for him, but not for the sake of any gain or for the sake of his own position, and when he feels that he has pity for anyone who suffers misfortune, and more so for him who errs in regard to the doctrine of faith, he may then know that ‘he is dwelling in the tents of Shem’, that is, that there are with him things of an internal nature by means of which the Lord is working.

AC (Elliott) n. 1103 1103. ‘Canaan will be his slave’ means that people who make worship consist solely in external things are able to perform inferior services. This is clear from what has been stated at verses 25, 26, about Canaan being a slave. People such as these are not in fact ‘slaves’ in the Lord’s Church on earth, for there are many of them who hold primary positions and who are over all others. They do nothing from charity and conscience, and yet very strictly they keep up the external things of the Church, and even condemn those who do not do the same. But because no charity and no conscience exist with them, and they make worship consist solely in external things devoid of internal, such persons are ‘slaves’ in the Lord’s kingdom, that is, in the next life; for they are among the unhappy. The types of service they perform there are inferior, which, being many, cannot be explained satisfactorily here, but will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

[2] Indeed everyone, no matter who, must in the next life perform a use; for the sole purpose for which a person is born is that he may perform a use to the community he is in, and to his neighbour, while he lives in the world, and in the next life may perform a use in accord with the Lord’s gracious purposes. It is the same with the human body: everything there must perform a use – even the things which in themselves seem to be good for nothing, such as fluids which in themselves are waste matter, for example the many secretions of saliva, bile, and so on which not only have to serve food passing through but also to separate waste matters and clear the intestines. The same applies to the use performed by manure and dung in fields and vineyards; and so on.

AC (Elliott) n. 1104 1104. Verses 28, 29 And Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died. These words mean the duration of the first Ancient Church, and at the same time its state.

AC (Elliott) n. 1105 1105. That these things are meant is quite clear from what has been stated already about numbers and years, see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648.

AC (Elliott) n. 1106 1106. VASTATIONS

There are many people who, when they were in the world, out of simplicity and ignorance absorbed falsities in respect to religious faith, but who possessed a kind of conscience that was in keeping with the basic assumptions of their faith. They did not live as others – hating, getting revenge, and committing adultery. In the next life those people cannot be admitted into heavenly communities as long as they are under the influence of falsity, for in that condition they would pollute those communities. They are detained therefore on the lower earth for a considerable length of time so as to get rid of those false assumptions. The length of time they stay there, long or short, depends on the nature of the falsity and of the life acquired from it, and on the extent to which those assumptions have been confirmed with them. Some there suffer quite severely, others not so. The experiences they undergo are called vastations, which receive considerable mention in the Word. When the period of vastation is completed they are carried into heaven and as newcomers receive instruction in the truths of faith, which is given by the angels who receive them.

AC (Elliott) n. 1107 1107. There are some who are vastated freely and willingly and so get rid of the false assumptions they have brought with them from the world. (Nobody can possibly get rid of false assumptions in the next life without sufficient time and the means provided by the Lord.) Throughout their stay on the lower earth the Lord maintains them in the hope of being set free and in the thought of the end in view, namely that in this way they may be corrected and be prepared to receive heavenly happiness.

AC (Elliott) n. 1108 1108. Some are kept in a condition halfway between being awake and being asleep, and think very little. By turns so to speak they wake up and remember what they have thought and done during their lifetime, only to slip back again into the halfway condition between being awake and being asleep. In this way they are vastated. They are below the left foot, a little towards the front.

AC (Elliott) n. 1109 1109. People who have confirmed themselves completely in false assumptions are reduced to a state of total ignorance. With them things at that time are so dim and confused that when they merely think about the matters in which they have confirmed themselves, they experience inward pain. But after a specific time they are as it were created anew and endowed with truths of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 1110 1110. People who have assumed that righteousness and merit lay in their good works and so have attributed the power of achieving salvation to themselves, not to the Lord and to His righteousness and merit, and who in thought and life have confirmed themselves in this idea, have their assumptions converted in the next life into delusions in which they seem to themselves to be cutting wood. This is exactly how it appears to them. I have spoken to them. When they are doing their work and are asked whether they are not tired out, they reply that they have not yet done enough work to be able to merit heaven. While they are cutting pieces of wood it seems as though something of the Lord is underneath the wood, so that the wood appears as merit. And the more something of the Lord seems to be in the pieces of wood the longer they remain in that condition. But when this delusion starts to fade they are getting nearer the end of vastation. At length they become such that they too are able to be admitted into good communities, though they still waver for a long time between truth and falsity. Because they have led a conscientious life the Lord takes great care of them, and is sending angels to them time and again. These are the people who in the Jewish Church were represented by ‘hewers of wood’, Josh. 9:23, 27.

AC (Elliott) n. 1111 1111. People who have led a good life, public and private, but who have persuaded themselves that they merit heaven by works and who have believed that it is enough merely to acknowledge one God alone as the Creator of the universe, have their false assumptions converted in the next life into such delusions that they seem to themselves to be cutting grass, and are called grass-cutters. They are cold, and endeavour to warm themselves by that cutting activity. Sometimes they go around inquiring of those they meet whether they will provide them with some warmth. This the spirits are indeed able to do for them, but the warmth they receive has no effect on them because it is external and they are wanting internal warmth. Consequently they return to their cutting, and in this way obtain some warmth for themselves from their work. I have felt their cold. They are always hoping that they are going to be carried into heaven. Sometimes they consult about how they can get themselves into that place by their own power. Because these people have performed good works they are among those who are vastated; and at length with the passage of time they are admitted into good communities and receive instruction.

AC (Elliott) n. 1112 1112. People however with whom the goods and truths of faith have been present, and who have consequently acquired a conscience and a life consisting of charity, are taken up by the Lord into heaven immediately after death.

AC (Elliott) n. 1113 1113. There are girls who have been misled into prostitution, and so have been persuaded that there is nothing evil about it, but who are of a decent disposition in every other respect. Because they have not yet reached the age when they are able to recognize and judge that way of life for themselves, they have an instructor with them, extremely strict, who punishes them as often as their thoughts turn to such loose behaviour. This man they fear exceedingly, and in this way they are vastated. But grown women who have been prostitutes, and have enticed others to be so, do not undergo vastation but are in hell.

AC (Elliott) n. 1114 1114. [AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTORY NOTE – CONTINUED

This page continues and completes the ‘Author’s Introductory Note’ that appears on page 1 of the first volume of this English translation. The items numbered 1-27 are the titles of the sections – describing the MARVELS – which occur ‘before and after each chapter’ of Volume One of the Latin (Chapters 1-15). Items 28 and 29 are the titles of sections that stand in Volume Two of the Latin, at the ends of Chapters 16 and 17 respectively.]

16 The Most Ancient Church, which was called Man, or Adam, 1114-1129.

17 Those before the Flood who perished, 1265-1272.

18 Position in the Grand Man, also place and distance in the next life, 1273-1278

19 Position and place, and also distance and time in the next life – continued, 1376-1382.

20 The perception spirits and angels have; also spheres in the next life, 1383-1400.

21 Perceptions and spheres in the next life – continued, 1504-1520.

22 The light in which angels are living, 1521-1534.

23 The light in which angels are living – continued; also their paradise gardens, and their dwelling-places, 1619-1633.

24 The speech of spirits and angels, 1634-1650.

25 The speech of spirits, and its variations continued, 1757-1764.

26 Sacred Scripture or the Word, and how it conceals within itself Divine matters which are fully visible to good spirits and to angels, 1767-1777

27 Sacred Scripture or the Word – continued, 1869-1879. Some facts about spirits and angels in general, 1880-1885.

28 Visions and dreams, including those that are prophetical which are described in the Word, 1966-1983.

29 The Last Judgement, 2117-2134.

10

THE MOST ANCIENT CHURCH, WHICH WAS CALLED MAN, OR ADAM

Angels and spirits, that is, human beings after death, are able to meet any they like of all those whom they have been acquainted with in the world or whom they have heard of. They see them and talk to them in person, when the Lord allows it. And what is remarkable, those people are with them in an instant and very much in person. Thus they are allowed to speak not only to friends, who normally find one another, but also to others whom they have admired and revered. In the Lord’s Divine mercy I have been allowed to speak not only to those who were known to me during their lifetime but also to the most prominent characters mentioned in the Word. Thus I have been allowed to speak as well to those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church, the Church called Man, or Adam, and also to certain of those who belonged to the Churches that came after it. The reason for my being allowed to do so was so that I might know that the names found in the initial chapters of Genesis are used solely to mean Churches, and also that I might know the character of the members of the Churches of that time. The things that follow next therefore are what I have been given to know concerning the Most Ancient Churches.

AC (Elliott) n. 1115 1115. Those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church, which was called Man, or Adam, and who were celestial people, are very high up overhead, where they live together in supreme happiness. They said that others rarely visited them, except from time to time certain people from somewhere different who say that they are ‘from the universe’. They also said that they were so high up overhead, not because they were haughty but so that they might govern those who were there.

AC (Elliott) n. 1116 1116. I have been shown the dwelling-places of those who belonged to the second and third generations of the descendants of this Most Ancient Church. Those dwelling-places are magnificent, stretching out a long way and varying in beautiful shades of red and blue. In fact angels have most magnificent dwelling- places defying description, which I have seen many times. To their eyes they appear so real that no appearance could ever be more real. The origin of these appearances that are so real will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. They live in a radiance of light, so to speak, of bright pearl, and sometimes like that of diamonds, for in the next life wonderful radiances exist in endless variety. People are much mistaken who imagine that such things do not exist there – things unendingly more numerous than those that anyone could or can conceive. They are, it is true, representatives like those sometimes seen by the prophets; but to those who are in the next life these representatives are nevertheless so real that they regard them as realities, and the things belonging to this world by comparison as non-realities.

AC (Elliott) n. 1117 1117. They live in the brightest light, to which the light of this world scarcely stands comparison. I have been shown that light as a flaming light which so to speak streamed down before my eyes. Those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church said that such light existed with them, and still more intense

AC (Elliott) n. 1118 1118. By means of a certain influx that I am unable to describe I have been shown the type of speech which those people employed when they lived in the world. It was not articulated, like the vocal speech of our own times, but was non-audible, produced not by external breathing but by means of internal breathing. I have also been allowed to ascertain the nature of their internal breathing. It came from between the navel and the heart and so through the lips without any sounds. It did not enter someone else’s ear by an external route, striking what is called the ear-drum, but by a certain route inside the mouth, and in point of fact by that part inside it which is nowadays called the Eustachian tube. I have also been shown that by means of this type of speech they were able to express far more fully the feelings present in the mind (animus) and the ideas comprising their thought (cogitatio) than can possibly be done by articulated sounds or spoken words, which are similarly delivered by means of breath, which however is external. For not one syllable of any spoken word is delivered without the use of breath. But with those people of the Most Ancient Church it was delivered in a far more perfect way because it was done by means of internal breathing. And because this interior breathing is also far more perfect, it is more applicable and appropriate to the actual ideas comprising thought. In addition they even communicated by movements of the lips and by corresponding changes of facial expression. For, being celestial people, whatever they were thinking shone out of their face and eyes which altered correspondingly. They were quite incapable of assuming facial expressions that did not accord with what they were thinking. Pretence, and still more deception, was to them something absolutely outrageous.

AC (Elliott) n. 1119 1119. I have been shown by actually observing it how the internal breathing of the most ancient people flowed in a non-audible manner into a kind of external, and thus non-verbal, speech, which was perceived by another person in his interior man. They said that that breathing with them changed according to their state of love and faith in the Lord. They also stated the reason, namely that because they had had communication with heaven, it could not be otherwise. In fact they and the angels who accompanied them were breathing in unison. Angels have breathing to which internal breathing corresponds, and which with them changes in a similar way. Indeed when they encounter anything contrary to love and faith in the Lord their breathing is laboured, but when they are experiencing the happiness that accompanies love and faith, their breathing is full and free. Something similar to this also exists with every human being but in this case everything depends on the bodily and worldly loves and on a person’s basic assumptions. When anything goes against these he experiences laboured breathing, but when it is in keeping with them his breathing is full and free. These observations however apply to external breathing. The subject of angels and their breathing will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 1120 1120. I have also been shown that the internal breathing of members of the Most Ancient Church which had come from between the navel and the inner region of the breast was changed in the course of time, that is, among their descendants. It retreated more towards the region of the back and towards the abdomen, and so retreated outwards and downwards till at length, among the final descendants of that Church who came immediately before the Flood, scarcely any internal breathing was left. And when at length none at all came from the breast they underwent self-caused suffocation. Among certain people of that time however external breathing came into existence and with it articulated sound, or vocal speech. Thus the ways in which people breathed prior to the Flood were determined by their state of love and faith; and when at length neither love nor faith existed but a persuasion of falsity, internal breathing came to an end. And when that came to an end so did perception and direct communication with angels.

AC (Elliott) n. 1121 1121. I have learned from members’ of the Most Ancient Church about their state of perception – that they had a perception of everything that was a matter of faith, almost as the angels did with whom they were in communication. The reason they had it was that their interior man, which is the spirit, was joined – also by means of internal breathing – to heaven, and that love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour have heaven within them. Thus man is joined to the angels through their very life itself which consists in such love. They said that because they abided in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbour they had the law inscribed within them. That being so whatever the laws dictated was in keeping with their perception and whatever the laws forbade was contrary to that perception. Nor did they doubt that all human laws, like Divine laws, are based on love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and regard these as their foundation. Since they had this foundation in them from the Lord they could not help knowing all that arises from it. They also believe that all people living in the world today who love the Lord and the neighbour have this law inscribed within them as well, and are acceptable citizens everywhere on earth just as they are in the next life.
* lit. sons or children

AC (Elliott) n. 1122 1122. I have learned in addition that members of the Most Ancient Church experienced most delightful dreams, as well as visions, and that what these meant was instilled at the same time. This was the source of their representations involving paradise gardens and much else. To them therefore earthly and worldly objects of the external senses were as nothing. They did not perceive any delight in those objects, only in the things which they meant and represented. Consequently when they looked at earthly objects they thought not at all of the objects, but only of the things they meant and represented, which to them were most delightful, for they were such things as exist in heaven, from which they behold the Lord Himself.

AC (Elliott) n. 1123 1123. I have spoken to the third generation of the Most Ancient Church who said that at the time they lived in the world they awaited the coming of the Lord to save the whole human race, and that ‘the seed of the woman would trample on the head of the serpent’ was a common saying among them in those times. They said that at that time their greatest delight in life was in producing offspring, and thus that their greatest pleasures lay in loving their married partner for the sake of offspring. They called those pleasures most delightful, and the delights most pleasurable, adding that the perception of these delights and pleasures came from an influx from heaven because the Lord was going to be born.

AC (Elliott) n. 1124 1124. Present with me were some descendants who lived prior to the Flood. They did not belong to those who perished but to those who were somewhat better people. At first they flowed in quite gently and imperceptibly. But I was given to perceive that they were inwardly evil and that inwardly they acted contrary to love. There emanated from them the reeking sphere of a dead body so that the spirits around me fled. They imagined they were so clever that nobody would perceive what they were thinking. I spoke to them about the Lord, whether or not they had awaited His coming, as their fathers had done. They said that they represented the Lord to themselves as an aged and holy man with a hoary beard and that from Him they came to be holy and in a similar way bearded. This was the origin of such reverence among their descendants for beards. They added that they were also able to worship Him now, though it was from self that they did so. But at that point an angel arrived whose presence they could not stand.

AC (Elliott) n. 1125 1125. I was allowed to speak to those who belonged to the Church called Enosh, mentioned in Gen. 4:26. Their influx was gentle, and their speaking unassuming. They said that they lived with one another in charity, and that they performed kindly services for visitors. It was clear however that their charity was the charity arising from friendship.* They live peaceably, like good citizens, causing nobody any trouble.
* See 1158:2 below.

AC (Elliott) n. 1126 1126. A narrow room appeared to me, and when the door had been opened a tall man came into view, clothed in white, a brilliant white. I wondered who he might be. They said that the man clothed in white meant those called Noah, or earliest members of the Ancient Church, the Church following the Flood. They said that those people were represented in this way because they were few in number.

AC (Elliott) n. 1127 1127. I was allowed to speak to members of the Ancient Church, or Church after the Flood, who were called Shem. They flowed in gently through the region of the head into the region of the breast towards, though not as far as, the heart. Their character can be known from the way they flow in.

AC (Elliott) n. 1128 1128. A certain person appeared who was enveloped so to speak with a cloud. On his face were many stars wandering around, which mean falsities. It was said that the descendants of the Ancient Church were such when it started to perish, especially among those who established worship by means of sacrifices and images.

AC (Elliott) n. 1129 1129. People prior to the Flood who perished are dealt with at the end of this chapter.

GENESIS 10

1 And these are the generations of the sons of Noah – Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the Flood.

2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

5 From these the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations.

6 And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.

7 And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteka. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

8 And Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty man in the land.

9 He was mighty in hunting before Jehovah; therefore it used to be said, Like Nimrod, mighty in hunting before Jehovah.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

11 Out of that land went Asshur, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth
city, and Calah,

12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah; this is that great city.

13 And Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, from whom Pelishtim came forth, and Caphtorim.

15 And Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth.

16 And the Jebusites, and the Amorites, and the Girgashites.

17 And the Hivites, and the Arkites, and the Sinites.

18 And the Arvadites, and the Zemarites, and the Hamathites; and afterwards the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.

19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you come towards Gerar, as far as Gaza, as you come towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

21 And to Shem also sons were born.* He was the father of all the sons of Eber; he was Japheth’s elder brother.

22 The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.

23 And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

24 And Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber.

25 And to Eber were born two sons, the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

26 And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All of these are the sons of Joktan.

30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as you come towards Sephar, the mountain of the east.

31 These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, according to their nations.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations in their nations. And from these the nations on the earth after the Flood were spread abroad.
* Expressing the original Hebrew literally, the Latin means And to Shem there was born also.

AC (Elliott) n. 1130 1130. CONTENTS

The subject in the whole of this chapter is the Ancient Church and the expansion of it, verse 1.

AC (Elliott) n. 1131 1131. Those who had external worship corresponding to internal are the sons of Japheth, verse 2. Those who had worship more remote from internal are the sons of Gomer and Javan, verses 3, 4; and those who had worship more remote still are ‘the islands of the nations’, verse 5.

AC (Elliott) n. 1132 1132. Those who cultivated cognitions, facts, and forms of ritual, and separated them from internal things, are the sons of Ham, verse 6. Those who cultivated cognitions of spiritual things are the sons of Cush, and those who cultivated cognitions of celestial things are the sons of Raamah, verse 7.

AC (Elliott) n. 1133 1133. Then those whose external worship has interior evils and falsities within it are the subject. Such worship is meant by Nimrod in verses 8, 9. The evils within such worship are dealt with in verse 10, the falsities within it in verses 11, 12.

AC (Elliott) n. 1134 1134. Those who devise new forms of worship for themselves by means of reasonings based on facts are dealt with in verses 13, 14. They turn cognitions of faith into mere items of knowledge, verse 14.

AC (Elliott) n. 1135 1135. External worship devoid of internal, which is Canaan, and derivatives of that worship, are dealt with in verses 15-18, and where this extended to, in verses 19, 20.

AC (Elliott) n. 1136 1136. Internal worship, which is Shem, and where it extended to, even to the second Ancient Church, is dealt with in verse 21. Internal worship and its derivatives which, stemming from charity, are derivations of wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and cognitions, which are meant by ‘the nations’, are dealt with in verses 22-24.

AC (Elliott) n. 1137 1137. The Church established by Eber, which emerged in Syria, is to be called the second Ancient Church. Its internal worship, which is Peleg, and its external, which is Joktan, are dealt with in verse 25. Its varying forms of ritual are the nations mentioned in verses 26-29; and where that Church extended to is described in verse 30.

AC (Elliott) n. 1138 1138. Forms of worship in the Ancient Church varied, according to the disposition of each nation, verses 31, 32.

AC (Elliott) n. 1139 1139. THE INTERNAL SENSE

It has been stated already that there are four differing styles in the Word. The first is that of the Most Ancient Church, a style like that used in the first chapter of Genesis down to the present chapter. The second is the historical, like that used subsequently in Moses and in the rest of the historical books. The third is the prophetical style, the fourth a style which lies half-way between the prophetical and ordinary speech. Regarding these styles, see 66.

AC (Elliott) n. 1140 1140. This chapter, and the next as far as Eber, continue the most ancient style; yet here it lies between the style of made-up history and that of true history. For by Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan, nothing else was meant nor is meant than, in the abstracted sense, the Ancient Church as to the varieties of its worship; that is to say, Shem is used to mean internal worship, Japheth to mean external worship corresponding to this, Ham to mean corrupted internal worship, and Canaan to mean external worship separated from internal. Noah and his sons never were actual persons but varieties of worship so named because all other differing forms of worship, that is, every specific difference, could be traced back to them as to the basic differences. Consequently nothing else was meant by Noah than the Ancient Church in general, as the parent incorporating all the rest. Indeed the names in this chapter, apart from Eber and his descendants, are used to mean just so many nations- just so many nations as constituted the Ancient Church, a Church that was spread abroad widely throughout areas surrounding the land of Canaan.

AC (Elliott) n. 1141 1141. Those who are here named ‘sons of Japheth’ were all such people as possessed external worship corresponding to internal, that is, people who lived in simplicity, friendship, and mutual charity, and knew no other doctrinal teachings than those which existed as external forms of ritual. Those who are named ‘sons of Ham’ were people who possessed corrupted internal worship. Those who are called ‘sons of Canaan’ were people who possessed external worship separated from internal. Those who are referred to as ‘sons of Shem’ were internal men, who worshipped the Lord and loved the neighbour. Their Church closely resembled the true Christian Church with us.

AC (Elliott) n. 1142 1142. The specific character of these people is not recorded in this chapter, for only their names are listed. Their character is clear however from the writings of the Prophets, where the names of these nations occur in various places. And wherever they occur they have no other meaning, sometimes indeed in their genuine sense, at others in the contrary sense.

AC (Elliott) n. 1143 1143. Although these were the names of those nations that constituted the Ancient Church, they are nevertheless used in the internal sense to mean specific things, namely types of worship. As to what names, territories, nations, and similar things are, nothing at all is known in heaven. There they have no mental picture of such, only of the things meant by them It is by virtue of the internal sense that the Word of the Lord is living. That sense is like the soul, whose body so to speak is the external sense. And just as when someone’s body dies the soul lives on, and when the soul lives on he is no longer aware of the things that belong to the body, so when he arrives among the angels he is not aware of what the Word is in the sense of the letter but of what it is in its soul. The member of the Most Ancient Church was such that if he were alive here today and read the Word he would not cling at all to the sense of the letter, but would so to speak not see it, only the internal sense abstractedly from the letter. Indeed it would be as though the letter did not exist, and so he would be abiding in the life or soul of the Word. This applies to every part of the Word, including historical descriptions of events that took place entirely as recorded. Even there not a single word exists which does not in the internal sense embody arcana, and these are never apparent to those who keep their mind on the historical connections. So in this chapter by the names used here are meant, in the sense of the letter or historical sense, the people who constituted the Ancient Church. In the internal sense however their matters of doctrine are meant.

AC (Elliott) n. 1144 1144. Verse 1 And these are the generations of the sons of Noah – Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the Flood. ‘These are the generations of the sons of Noah’ means derivative matters of doctrine and derivative forms of worship in the Ancient Church, which in general is Noah. ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ have the same meaning here as previously -‘Shem’ true internal worship, ‘Ham’ corrupted internal worship, ‘Japheth’ external worship corresponding to internal. ‘And sons were born to them’ means matters of doctrine deriving from those three. ‘After the Flood’ means from the time when this new Church emerged.

AC (Elliott) n. 1145 1145. That ‘these are the generations of the sons of Noah’ means derivative matters of doctrine and derivative forms of worship in the Ancient Church, which in general is Noah, is clear from the meaning of ‘generations’, dealt with already. In the external or literal sense, generations involve one being begotten from another, as is well known; but in the internal sense everything has regard to things that are celestial and spiritual, that is, to what are matters of charity and of faith. Thus ‘generations’ here means things of the Church, and therefore matters of doctrine, as will be better evident from what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 1146 1146. That ‘Shem, Ham, and Japheth’ have the same meaning here as previously – ‘Shem’ true internal worship, ‘Ham’ corrupted internal worship, ‘Japheth’ external worship corresponding to internal – is clear from what has been stated about them already. There it has been shown not only that Shem, Ham, and Japheth mean those types of worship, but also what is meant by true internal worship, which is Shem; also what is meant by corrupted internal worship, which is Ham; as well as what is meant by external worship corresponding to internal, which is Japheth. Consequently there is no need to pause any longer over these meanings.

AC (Elliott) n. 1147 1147. ‘And sons were born to them’ means matters of doctrine deriving from those three. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sons’ in the internal sense as truths of faith, and also as falsities. Consequently matters of doctrine, both true and false, are meant, for such are the doctrines of Churches. That ‘sons’ has such a meaning, see above in 264, 489, 491, 533.

AC (Elliott) n. 1148 1148. ‘After the Flood’ means from the time when this new Church emerged. Similarly this is clear from what has been stated in previous chapters. Actually the end of the Most Ancient Church and also the start of the Ancient Church is described by the Flood. It should be noted that the Church before the Flood is called the Most Ancient Church, but the Church after the Flood the Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1149 1149. Verse 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

‘The sons of Japheth’ means those who possessed external worship corresponding to internal. ‘Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras’ were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who in the internal sense mean just so many differing types of doctrine which were one and the same as the forms of ritual which they observed.

AC (Elliott) n. 1150 1150. That ‘the sons of Japheth’ means those who possessed external worship corresponding to internal has been stated already. It is called external worship corresponding to internal when the worship has what is essential within it. And that which is essential is adoration of the Lord from the heart, which in no sense exists unless charity, or love towards the neighbour, is present. It is in charity or love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, in which case it is possible for Him to be adored from the heart. Thus it is from the Lord that adoration comes, for the Lord makes all adoration possible and gives it all its being. It follows therefore that as is a person’s charity, so is his adoration or worship. All worship is adoration, for adoration of the Lord must be in it for it to be worship. The sons of Japheth, that is, the nations and peoples called the sons of Japheth, lived with one another in mutual charity, in friendship, in civility, and in simplicity, and consequently the Lord was present in their worship. For when the Lord is present in external worship internal worship is in that case within the external, that is, there is external worship corresponding to internal. In former times very many nations were such, and nations also exist at the present day who focus worship on external things without knowing what the internal is. And if they do know they give no thought to those matters. If those people acknowledge the Lord and love the neighbour, the Lord is in their worship and they are ‘sons of Japheth’. But if they deny the Lord, love only themselves and do not care about the neighbour, worse still if they hate him, then their worship is external separated from internal, and they are ‘sons of Canaan’ or Canaanites.

AC (Elliott) n. 1151 1151. ‘Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras’ were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who in the internal sense mean just so many differing types of doctrine which were one and the same as the forms of ritual which they observed devoutly. This is quite clear from the Word where these nations are mentioned in various places, for those nations everywhere mean external worship, sometimes external worship corresponding to internal, sometimes the contrary The reason the latter is sometimes meant is that all Churches everywhere altered in the course of time, and altered indeed into something contrary. The fact that the nations named here mean nothing other than external worship, and therefore their doctrinal teachings, which were forms of ritual, becomes clear, as has been stated, from other parts of the Word, chiefly in the Prophets.

[2] Magog, Meshech, Tubal, and Gomer are referred to in Ezekiel as follows,

Son of man, set your face* towards Gog, the land of Magog, the prince, the head of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince, the head of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you back, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company, with shield and buckler, all of them wielding swords: Persia, Cush, and Put with them; Gomer and all on his flanks; Bethtogarmah, the uttermost parts of the north, and all on his Ranks. In the latter years you will come upon the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been made a waste. Ezek. 38:2-6, 8.

The subject in the whole of this chapter is a Church that became corrupted and which at length focused the whole of worship in external things or religious observances once charity, meant by ‘the mountains of Israel’, had been destroyed. Here ‘Gog and the land of Magog, the prince and head of Meshech and Tubal’ is worship confined to external things. Anyone may see that Gog and Magog are not the subject, for the Word of the Lord does not deal with worldly things, but embodies Divine matters.

[3] In the same prophet,

Prophesy against Gog and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince, the head of Meshech and Tubal; and I will bring you back, and will split you into six, and make you come up from the uttermost parts of the north and bring you on to the mountains of Israel. On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all on your flanks, and the peoples that are with you. Ezek. 39:1, 2, 4.

The subject in the whole of this chapter is likewise external worship separated from internal and made idolatrous. Such worship is meant here by ‘Gog, Meshech and Tubal’ who are also used to mean the matters of doctrine which people adopt and then confirm from the literal sense of the Word, and in so doing falsify truths and destroy internal worship. For, as has been stated, those same nations also mean contrary things.

[4] In John,

When the thousand years have come to an end, Satan will be loosed from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth. Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. They went up over the breadth** of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, [and] the beloved city. Rev. 20:7-9.

Here also ‘Gog and Magog’ has a similar meaning. External worship separated from internal, that is, separated from love to the Lord and from love towards the neighbour, is nothing but idolatrous worship which ‘surrounds the camp of the saints and the beloved city’.

[5] Meshech and Tubal are referred to in Ezekiel as follows,

Meshech and Tubal are there, and all their crowd; round about it are its graves; all of them are uncircumcised, pierced by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. Ezek. 32:26.

This refers to Egypt, that is, to factual knowledge by means of which people wish to inquire into spiritual things. ‘Meshech and Tubal’ stands for doctrinal teachings, which were forms of ritual, which are called ‘uncircumcised’ when love does not exist. Consequently they are ‘pierced by the sword, and a terror in the land of the living’.

[6] Javan is referred to in Joel,

You have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Javanites,*** to remove them far away from their border. Joel 3:6.

‘The sons of Judah’ stands for things on the celestial side of faith, ‘the sons of Jerusalem’ for those on the spiritual side, and so for things that are internal. ‘The sons of the Javanites’ stands for worship in external things that is separated from internal worship; and because this worship is so far removed from that which is internal it is said that they ‘removed them far away from their border’.

[7] ‘Javan and Tubal’ in Isaiah stands for true external worship itself,

One is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they will come and see My glory, and I will set a sign among them And I will send survivors from them to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands far off that have not heard My fame and have not seen My glory; and they will declare My glory among the nations. Isa. 66:18, 19.

This refers to the Lord’s kingdom and His Coming. ‘Tubal and Javan’ stands for those whose worship is external corresponding to internal and who are to be informed about internal things.
* lit. faces
** lit. the plain
*** i.e. the Greeks

AC (Elliott) n. 1152 1152. Verses 3, 4 And the sons of Gomer Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

‘The sons of Gomer’ also means those who possessed external worship, but an external worship derived from that which existed with the nation ‘Gomer’. ‘Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah’ were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who also mean just so many types of matters of doctrine which were forms of ritual, derived from the external worship existing with ‘Gomer’. ‘The sons of Javan’ means others again with whom there existed external worship derived from the worship existing with the nation ‘Javan’. ‘Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim’ were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who also mean just so many types of matters of doctrine which were forms of ritual, derived from the external worship existing with ‘Javan’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1153 1153. That ‘the sons of Gomer’ also means those who possessed external worship, but an external worship derived from that which existed with the nation Gomer, follows from what has been stated and shown several times already about the meaning of ‘sons’, as well as from the fact that Gomer is one of those nations which possessed external worship corresponding to internal. Seven nations which possessed such worship are mentioned by name in the previous verse, and seven again, called ‘the sons of Gomer and of Javan’, in this. The specific differences however between one nation and another cannot be stated, as only their names are given here. In the Prophets however when the subject is specifically this or that type of Church-worship the differences can be established. In general all variations of external worship, as also of internal, arise according to the adoration of the Lord in the worship, and the adoration is according to the love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour that exist there. For it is within love that the Lord is present, and thus within worship. The differences of worship therefore existing among the nations mentioned here depend on the nature of His presence within.

[2] To make it easier to talk about how types of worship differ and how they did so in the Ancient Church among various nations, let it be realized that all true worship consists in adoration of the Lord. Adoration of the Lord consists in being humble; and being humble consists in the self-acknowledgement that with oneself there is nothing living and nothing good, but that with oneself everything is dead, indeed corpse-like. Being humble also consists in the acknowledgement that everything living and everything good come from the Lord. The more a person acknowledges these things not just with the lips but in his heart, the more humility he has; and consequently the more adoration – which is true worship – and the more love and charity, and the more happiness. The first contains the second, and they are so linked together as to be inseparable. This shows what these differences of worship are and the nature of them.

[3] Those who are mentioned here and are called ‘the sons of Gomer and of Javan’ are people who likewise possessed external worship corresponding to internal, but it was somewhat more remote than that of the people mentioned in the previous verse. This also is why they are called ‘sons’. Generations descending one after another, or derivatives, here progress from what is interior towards things that are exterior. The more someone relies on the senses, the more exterior he becomes, and consequently becomes further removed from true worship of the Lord. For when it is more concerned with the world, the body, and the earth, and less with the spirit, it consequently becomes more remote. Because these people called the sons of Gomer and of Javan relied more on the senses, they focused worship even more on external things than those referred to as their parents and cousins had done. Consequently they form a second group here.

AC (Elliott) n. 1154 1154. ‘Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah’ were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who mean just so many types of matters of doctrine which were forms of ritual, derived from the external worship existing with ‘Gomer’. This is clear from the Prophets where the same nations are mentioned again. Those nations mean in every instance doctrinal teachings or forms of ritual. And as usual they are meant in both senses, at times in the genuine and at others in the contrary. Ashkenaz is mentioned in Jeremiah,

Set up a standard on the earth, sound the trumpet among the nations; consecrate the nations against her, cause the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to hear against her. Jer. 5:27.

This refers to the destruction of Babel where ‘Ashkenaz’ stands for its idolatrous worship, that is, for external worship separated from internal, which destroyed Babylon. In particular it stands for doctrines that are false. Thus Ashkenaz is used in the contrary sense. Togarmah is mentioned in Ezekiel,

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traders in the souls of men, and they gave vessels of bronze for your merchandise. Those of Bethtogarmah gave horses and horsemen, and mules for your resources. Ezek. 27:13, 14.

This refers to Tyre which represented people who possessed cognitions of celestial and spiritual things. As previously, ‘Javan, Tubal, and Meshech’ are various representative rites, that is, ones that correspond; and so also is ‘Bethtogarmah’. The external rites of the former have regard to celestial things, but those of the latter, or Bethtogarmah, to spiritual things, as is clear from the meaning of the wares with which they traded. In this case Bethtogarmah is used in the genuine sense. In the same prophet,

Gomer and all on his Ranks; Bethtogarmah, the uttermost parts of the north, together with ale on his flanks. Ezek 38:6.

Here they stand for perverted matters of doctrine, which are also ‘the uttermost parts of the north’. In this case Gomer and Bethtogarmah are used in the contrary sense.

AC (Elliott) n. 1155 1155. ‘The sons of Javan’ means others again with whom there existed external worship derived from the worship existing with the nation Javan. This in like manner becomes clear in the Prophets where they are named in connection with real things and mean nothing other than those things. The reason the sons of Gomer and the sons of Javan are named, but not the rest of the seven mentioned in verse 2, is that the sons of the one have reference to the branch of spiritual things, and the sons of the other to the branch of celestial things. The fact that ‘the sons of Gomer’ has reference to the branch of spiritual things is clear from the places in the Prophets quoted just above, while the fact that ‘the sons of Javan’ has reference to the branch of celestial things will be evident from what follows. The branch of spiritual things differs from that of celestial through this – that spiritual have regard to truths of faith but celestial to the goods of faith which are the expressions of charity. Although the world is totally ignorant of these differences they are nevertheless very well known in heaven, not only indeed as regards general but also as regards specific differences. In heaven not the smallest difference exists which is not distinct and separate within a perfect ordering. The world knows only of the existence of forms of worship, and the fact that these vary from one another. And even then it knows only of differences in externals. In heaven however the very differences themselves which are countless are plain to see, and indeed the internal nature of them.

AC (Elliott) n. 1156 1156. ‘Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim’ were just so many nations with whom such worship existed, and who mean just so many types of matters of doctrine which were forms of ritual, derived from the external worship existing with ‘Javan’. This becomes clear from the following places in the Prophets:

Elishah is referred to in Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you an ensign; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Ezek 27:7.

This refers to Tyre, which means people who possess celestial and spiritual riches, which are cognitions. ‘Embroidered work from Egypt’ stands for facts, and so for forms of ritual representative of spiritual things. ‘Violet and purple from the islands of Elishah’ stands for forms of ritual corresponding to internal worship, and so for representatives of celestial things. In this case Elishah is used in the genuine sense.

Tarshish is referred to in Isaiah,

I will send survivors from them to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, islands far off. Isa. 66:19.

In the same prophet,

Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre has been laid waste, so that there is no house for entering in. From the land of Kittim* it has been revealed to them. Isa. 23:1, 14.

Tarshish is again referred to in Isa. 60:9; Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:12; Ps. 48:7, where it stands for forms of ritual, that is, types of doctrinal teachings.

Kittim is referred to in Jeremiah,

Pass over into the islands of Kittim and see, and into Arabia** and examine thoroughly, if there has been such a thing. Jer. 2:10.

And in Isaiah,

He said, You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, pass over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest. Isa. 23:12.

Here ‘Kittim’ stands for forms of ritual. In Ezekiel,

Of oaks of Bashan they made your oars; your plank they made of ivory, a daughter of steps*** from the isles of Kittim. Ezek. 27:6.

This refers to Tyre. Ships’ planks or benches ‘from the isles of Kittim’ stands for the external expression of worship, and so for forms of ritual, which belong to the branch of celestial things. In Moses,

Ships from the coast of Kittim [will come]’ and they will afflict Asshur, and they will afflict Eber. Num. 24:24.

Here also ‘Kittim’ stands for external worship, that is, for forms of ritual. From this it becomes clear that all these names in the internal sense mean real things, which occur in their own connected sequence.
* i.e. Cyprus
** English versions of the Bible preserve the Hebrew name Kedar, as does Sw. also in 3268 where he identifies Kedar with Arabia.
*** ‘a daughter of steps’ describes part of a ship, though exactly which part is not clear to the translator.

AC (Elliott) n. 1157 1157. Verse 5 From these the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad, every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations.

‘From these the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad’ means that the worship of even more nations emanated from these, ‘islands’ being individual pieces of land, and so individual forms of worship, which were more remote still, ‘lands’ the general features of those forms of worship. ‘Every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations’ means that they were ranged according to the character of each one, ‘according to his tongue’ meaning according to each one’s individual belief, ‘according to their families’ meaning according to uprightness, ‘as to their nations’ meaning as regards both belief and uprightness in general.

AC (Elliott) n. 1158 1158. ‘From these the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad’ means that the worship of even more nations emanated from these – ‘islands’ being individual pieces of land, and so individual forms of worship, which were more remote still, and ‘lands’ the general features of those forms of worship. This is clear from the meaning of ‘islands’ in the Word. Up to now the subject has been those who had external worship corresponding to internal. The seven sons of Japheth have meant those who came nearer to true internal worship, the seven sons of Gomer and of Javan together have meant those who were more remote from true internal worship. ‘The islands of the nations’ means those who are more remote still, strictly speaking those who lived in charity with one another but who were nevertheless uninformed people who knew nothing whatever about the Lord, about the Church’s teachings concerning faith, or about internal worship. They did have some form of external worship however, which they kept up devoutly. Such people are called ‘islands’ in the Word, and therefore ‘islands’ means in the internal sense worship that is more remote.

[2] Those who possess the internal sense of the Word, as angels do, are unaware of what islands are, for they no longer have any ideas of such things. Instead of islands they perceive a more remote kind of worship like that found among gentile nations outside the Church. In a similar way they also perceive by islands things inside the Church itself which are somewhat more remote from charity, as forms of friendship and civility are. Friendship is not the same as charity, civility even less so. They are steps down from charity, though the more they draw from charity the more genuine they are.

[3] The fact that ‘islands’ has this meaning becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Keep silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength, let them approach. The islands saw and were afraid, the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near and came. Isa 41:1, 5.

Here ‘islands’ stands for upright gentiles outside the Church who have devoutly kept up their own type of external worship. The furthest limits of the Church are called ‘the ends of the earth’. In the same prophet,

He will not be in darkness, and He will not break up until He has set judgement on the earth; and the islands wait for His law. Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is in it, the islands and their inhabitants. They will give glory to Jehovah, and declare His praise in the islands Isa. 42:4, 10, 12.

Here again ‘islands’ stands for gentiles outside the Church who have lived without knowledge, in simplicity and uprightness.

[4] In the same prophet,

Listen to Me, O islands, and hearken, O peoples from afar. Isa 49:1.

This similarly stands for gentile nations who are more remote from worship of the Lord and from the cognitions of faith; hence the expression ‘from afar’ is used. In the same prophet,

In Me the islands will hope and await My arm. Isa. 51:5.

Here too ‘islands’ has the same meaning. The phrase ‘in Me they will hope and await My arm’ is used because they are people who are living uprightly. In Jeremiah,

Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations, and declare it in the islands afar off. Jer. 31:10.

Once again ‘islands’ has the same meaning. In Zephaniah,

Jehovah will be terrible against them, for He will destroy with leanness all the gods of the earth, and to Him will bow down, each in its place, all the islands of the nations. Zeph. 2:11.

‘The islands of the nations’ stands for gentile nations more remote from cognitions of faith.

[5] In David,

Jehovah reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the many islands be glad! Cloud and thick darkness are round about Him. Ps 97:1, 2.

Again ‘islands’ has the same meaning. Here their lack of knowledge is expressed in representative fashion by means of ‘cloud and thick darkness’. But because they are living in simplicity and uprightness the phrase ’round about Him’ is used. Because ‘islands’ means things that are more remote, ‘Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, and Javan’ also, who meant forms of external worship, were called ‘islands’, in Isa. 66:19, as also is Kittim in Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:6. Furthermore when islands are mentioned as distinct from land or mountains they mean truths of faith because they are planted in the sea. Thus they mean doctrinal teachings which exist as forms of ritual.

AC (Elliott) n. 1159 1159. ‘Every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations’ means that they were ranged according to the character of each one, ‘according to his tongue’ meaning according to each one’s individual belief, ‘according to their families’ meaning according to uprightness, ‘as to their nations’ meaning as to both belief and uprightness in general. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘tongue’, and ‘families’, and ‘nations’ in the Word, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. The reason why in the internal sense ‘tongue’ means individual belief, and so basic assumptions and persuasions, is that the tongue corresponds to the understanding part of man’s mind, that is, to his thought, in the way that an effect corresponds to its cause. Such is the case not only with the influx of a person’s thoughts into the movements of the tongue in speaking, but also with the influx of heaven, about which something from personal experience will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.

[2] That ‘families’ in the internal sense means uprightness, as well as charity and love, arises from the fact that all things belonging to mutual love are in the heavens like blood relatives and relatives by marriage, and so are like families, see 685. This is why in the Word things belonging to love or charity are described as ‘houses’ and also as ‘families’, points which there is no need to pause over and confirm here. That ‘a house’ has this meaning, see 710.

[3] That ‘nations’ means both belief and uprightness in general is clear from the meaning of ‘a nation’ or ‘nations’ in the Word. In the good sense nations mean things of the new will and understanding, and so mean the goods of love and the truths of faith. But in the contrary sense evils and falsities are meant. The same applies to houses, families, and tongues, as may be confirmed from very many places in the Word. The reason is that the Most Ancient Church was distinguished into separate houses, families, and nations. A married couple with their children, together with menservants and maidservants, constituted one house. A number of houses in close proximity in turn constituted one family, while a number of families constituted a nation. Consequently nations meant all families taken together as a whole. The same applies in heaven, but all relationships there are determined by love to and faith in the Lord, 685.

[4] This then is how nations come to mean what they do in the internal sense, namely that which is general embracing things both of the will and of the understanding, or what amounts to the same, both the things of love and those of faith. Their meaning however depends on the families and houses of which they consist. For these points, see also what has been stated already in 470, 471, 483 From these considerations it is clear that ‘nations’ means both belief and uprightness in general, and that ‘everyone according to his tongue, according to their families, and as to their nations’ means the disposition of each person, family, and nation whose worship was derived from the Ancient Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1160 1160. Verse 6 And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.

Here, as previously, ‘Ham’ means faith separated from charity. ‘The sons of Ham’ means things that belong to separated faith. ‘Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan’ were just so many nations who in the internal sense mean cognitions, knowledge, and the forms of worship which belong to faith separated from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 1161 1161. That ‘Ham’ means faith separated from charity is clear from what has been stated and shown about Ham in the previous chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 1162 1162. That ‘the sons of Elam’ means things that belong to separated faith follows from what appears above. To know what ‘Hem’ means and from that ‘the sons of Ham’, one must know what faith separated from charity is. Faith separated from charity is. Faith separated from charity is no faith. And where there is no faith there is no worship, neither internal nor external. If any worship does exist it is corrupted worship, and this is why ‘Ham’ likewise means corrupted internal worship. The individual belief is false in people who apply the term ‘faith’ to a mere knowledge of celestial and spiritual things separated from charity. For sometimes the most evil people of all – such as those who have led lives continually hating, getting revenge, and committing adultery, and who are therefore like those in hell and after life in the body become devils – are more knowledgeable than others. From this it becomes clear that knowledge is not faith. Rather, faith is the acknowledgement of the things that belong to faith; and that acknowledgement is in no way external but internal, being the operation of the Lord alone through the charity present with a person. Nor is acknowledgement in any way of the lips but of the life. It is from a person’s life that the nature of his acknowledgement may be known. All who have a knowledge of the cognitions of faith but have no charity are called ‘the sons of Ham’. Whether their knowledge is a knowledge of the interior cognitions of the Word and its deepest mysteries, or a knowledge of all that the literal sense of the Word contains, or a knowledge of other truths, from which these may be regarded, no matter what name they are given, or whether it is a knowledge of all the rituals that constitute external worship, they are ‘sons of Ham’ if they have no charity. That those called ‘the sons of Ham’ are such is clear from the nations now under discussion.

AC (Elliott) n. 1163 1163. ‘Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan’ were just so many nations who in the internal sense mean cognitions, knowledge, and the forms of ritual which belong to faith separated from charity. This becomes clear from the Word where these nations are mentioned in various places, for these nations mean such things in those places. That is to say, ‘Cush’ or Ethiopia means interior cognitions of the Word by which people confirm false assumptions. ‘Mizraim’ or Egypt means knowledge, or the various facts by which they wish to probe into the arcana of faith and in so doing confirm assumptions that are false. ‘Put’ or Libya means cognitions drawn from the literal sense of the Word by means of which in a similar way they confirm false assumptions. ‘Canaan’ or the Canaanites means forms of ritual or external worship that are separated from internal. Since all of these have been separated from charity they are called ‘the sons of Ham’. The same nations also mean simply cognitions and knowledge, ‘Cush’ meaning interior cognitions of the Word, ‘Egypt’ knowledge, ‘Put’ cognitions obtained from the literal sense of the Word. This is the reason they are used in both senses, bad as well as good, as becomes clear from the places quoted below.

AC (Elliott) n. 1164 1164. That ‘Cush’ or Ethiopia means interior cognitions of the Word by which people confirm false assumptions is clear in Jeremiah,

Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers the waters are tossed about; and he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. Go up, O horses, and rage, O chariots, and let the mighty men go forth, Cush and Put that handle the shield. Jer. 46:8, 9.

In this case ‘Egypt’ stands for people who believe nothing they do not grasp through facts. As a result everything is subject to doubt, denial and falsification, meant by ‘rising up, covering the earth, and destroying the city’. Here ‘Cush’ stands for the more universal and interior cognitions of the Word by which they confirm accepted false assumptions. ‘Put’ stands for cognitions drawn from the literal sense of the Word which are based on sensory appearances.

[2] In Ezekiel,

A sword will come upon Egypt, and there will be grief in Cush when the slain* falls in Egypt; and they will take her multitude, and her foundations will be destroyed. Cush and Put and Lud and all of Ereb** and Kub, and the sons of the land of the covenant will fall with them by the sword. Ezek. 30:4-6.

Except from the internal sense nobody could possibly know what these statements mean. And if the names did not mean real things, these verses would have practically no meaning at all. In this case however ‘Egypt’ means the knowledge by means of which they wish to enter into the mysteries of faith. ‘Cush and Put’ are called ‘her foundations’ because they are cognitions drawn from the Word.

[3] In the same prophet,

On that day messengers will go forth from before Me in ships to terrify overconfident Cush, and there will be grief among them as in the day of Egypt. Ezek. 30:9.

‘Cush’ stands for cognitions drawn from the Word which confirm falsities hatched out of facts. In the same prophet,

I will make the land of Egypt into waste places, an utter desolation, from the tower of Seveneh as far as the border of Cush. Ezek. 29:10.

In this case ‘Egypt’ stands for facts, ‘Cush’ for cognitions of the interior things of the Word, which are ‘the borders’ beyond which knowledge does not go.

[4] In Isaiah,

The king of Asshur will lead away the captives of Egypt and the captives of Cush, boys and old men, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. And they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope, and because of Egypt their glory. Isa. 20:4, 5.

Here ‘Cush’ stands for cognitions drawn from the Word by which falsities obtained through facts are confirmed. ‘Asshur’ is reasoning which carries away those who are captive. In Nahum,

Cush was her strength, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were your help. Nahum 3:9.

This refers to a vastated Church where in a similar way ‘Egypt’ stands for facts and ‘Cush’ for cognitions.

[5] ‘Cush’ and ‘Egypt’ stand simply for cognitions and knowledge which are truths useful to people whose faith is grounded in charity. ‘Cush and Egypt’ is used in this good sense in Isaiah,

Jehovah said, The labour of Egypt, and the wares of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours. They will follow after you in fetters, they will come over and bow down to you. To you they will make the supplication, God is with you only, and there is no other besides God. Isa. 45:14.

‘The labour of Egypt’ stands for knowledge, ‘the wares of Cush and the Sabeans’ for cognitions of spiritual things which serve those who acknowledge the Lord, for all knowledge and every cognition are theirs.

[6] In Daniel,

The king of the north will have dominion over the secret hoards of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans (Put) and the Cushites will follow in his*** steps. Dan. 11:3.

‘Put and Cush’ here stands for cognitions drawn from the Word, ‘Egypt’ for facts. In Zephaniah,

From beyond the rivers of Cush are those who adore Me. Zeph. 3:10.

This stands for those who are beyond the range of cognitions, and so for gentiles. In David,

Noblemen will come out of Egypt, Cush will hasten [to stretch out] her hands to God. Ps. 68:31.

Here ‘Egypt’ stands for knowledge, and ‘Cush’ for cognitions.

[7] In the same author,

I will mention Rahab and Babel among those who know Me; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush. The latter was born here (in the city of God). Ps 87:4.

‘Cush’ stands for cognitions drawn from the Word, hence the statement that he was ‘born in the city of God’. Since ‘Cush’ means interior cognitions of the Word and intelligence acquired from these, it is therefore said that the second river going out of the garden of Eden encompassed the whole land of Cush. On this see what has appeared already in 117.
* lit. the pierced
** the Hebrew word rendered Ereb here is usually regarded not as a proper but as a common noun which means a mixed company.
*** The Latin means your but the Hebrew means his, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 1165 1165. In the Word ‘Mizraim’ or Egypt means knowledge, that is, various facts, by which people wish to probe into the arcana of faith and so confirm the false assumptions acquired in that way. ‘Mizraim’ also means simply knowledge, and so knowledge that is useful. This is clear not only from the places just quoted but also from very many others which would fill up page after page if they were all included. See Isa. 19:1-end; 30:1-3; 31:1- 3; Jer. 2:18, 36; 42:14-end; 46:1-end; Ezek. 16:26; 23:3; 29:1-end; 30:1-end; Hosea 7:11; 9:3, 6; 11:1, 5, 11; Micah 7:12; Zech. 10:10, 11; Ps. 80:8 and following verses.

AC (Elliott) n. 1166 1166. In the Word ‘Put’ or Libya means cognitions drawn from the literal sense, which in a similar way confirm false assumptions. ‘Put’ also means simply such cognitions. This is clear from places quoted already where Cush is referred to. Because Cush too means cognitions, though interior ones, Put and Cush are mentioned together in the Word. Among the places quoted above, see Jer. 46:9; Ezek. 30:4-6; Nahum 3:9; Dan. 11:43.

AC (Elliott) n. 1167 1167. In the Word ‘Canaan’ or the Canaanite means forms of ritual or external worship separated from internal. This is clear from very many places, especially in historical sections. This being the character of the Canaanites at the time that the sons of Jacob were brought into the land, permission was given to wipe them out. But in the internal sense of the Word Canaanites are used to mean all people whose worship is external separated from internal. And because this was pre-eminently true of the Jews and Israelites, they specifically are meant in the prophetic Word, as becomes clear from the following two places alone: In David,

They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was profaned with blood.* They became unclean by their acts, and committed whoredom in their doings. Ps. 106:38, 39.

Here ‘pouring out the blood of sons and daughters’ means in the internal sense that they destroyed every truth of faith and good of charity. ‘Sacrificing sons and daughters to the idols of Canaan’ means profaning matters of faith and charity by means of external worship separated from internal, which is nothing else than idolatrous worship. So ‘they became unclean by their acts and committed whoredom in their doings’. In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, Your tracings and your nativity are of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezek. 16:3.

Here it is stated explicitly that they belonged to the land of Canaan. As regards ‘Canaan’ meaning external worship separated from internal, see what has appeared already in 1078, 1094.
* lit. bloods

AC (Elliott) n. 1168 1168. Verse 7 And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteka. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ‘The sons of Cush’ means those who did not have internal worship but cognitions of faith, and who made religion consist merely in the possessing of such cognitions. ‘Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteka’ are just so many nations with whom these existed, for in the internal sense these same nations mean cognitions themselves. ‘The sons of Raamah’ similarly means those who had no internal worship but cognitions of faith, in the mere possession of which they made religion consist. ‘Sheba and Dedan’ are nations with whom these cognitions existed, for by those same nations cognitions themselves are meant in the internal sense, though with this difference, that cognitions of spiritual things are meant by ‘the sons of Cush’, cognitions of celestial things by ‘the sons of Raamah’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1169 1169. That ‘the sons of Cush’ means those who did not have internal worship but cognitions of faith, and who made religion consist merely in the possessing of such cognitions, is clear from ‘Cush’ whose sons they are, and who means interior cognitions of spiritual things, as shown above. It is also clear from the Word wherever those nations are mentioned.

AC (Elliott) n. 1170 1170. That ‘Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteka’ are just so many nations with whom these cognitions existed, and that in the internal sense these same nations mean cognitions themselves, becomes clear from the places in the Word quoted below.

AC (Elliott) n. 1171 1171. ‘The sons of Raamah’ similarly means those who had no internal worship but cognitions of faith, in the mere possession of which they made religion consist; and ‘Sheba and Dedan’ are nations with whom they existed and by these same nations cognitions themselves are meant in the internal sense. This is evident from the places in the Prophets given below, and from the following in David concerning Seba, Sheba, and Raamah,

The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring a gift, and the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer a present; and all kings will fall down before Him. Ps. 72:10, 11.

This refers to the Lord, His kingdom, and the celestial Church. Anyone may see that here ‘gift’ and ‘present’ mean types of worship, though exactly which types of worship, and the nature of them, cannot be known unless it is known what ‘Tarshish and the islands’ and ‘Sheba and Seba’ are used to mean. The fact that ‘Tarshish and the islands’ is used to mean forms of external worship corresponding to internal has been shown already, from which it follows that ‘Sheba and Seba’ is used to mean forms of internal worship – ‘Sheba’ the celestial things of worship, and ‘Seba’ the spiritual.

[2] In Isaiah,

I gave Egypt as your expiation, Cush and Seba in place of you. Isa. 43:3.

Here ‘Cush and Seba’ stands for the spiritual things of faith. In the same
prophet,

The labour of Egypt, and the wares of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you. Isa. 45:14.

‘The labour of Egypt’ stands for knowledge, ‘the wares of Cush and the Sabeans’ for cognitions of spiritual things which serve people who believe in the Lord.

[3] In the same prophet,

A drove of camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense and will proclaim the praises of Jehovah. The whole Rock of Arabia will be gathered to you. Isa. 60:6, 7.

Here ‘Sheba’ is used to mean celestial things and the spiritual things deriving from these, described as ‘gold and frankincense’, which, as now explained, are ‘the praises of Jehovah’, that is, internal worship.

[4] In Ezekiel,

The traders of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traders in the best of every spice, and in every precious stone, and they gave gold for your resources. Ezek. 27:22, 23.

This refers to Tyre. What ‘Sheba and Raamah’ means is clear from the commodities in which they are said to have traded – spices, precious stones, and gold. ‘Spices’ in the internal sense are charity, ‘precious stones’ are faith deriving from charity, and ‘gold’ is love to the Lord, all of which are the celestial things meant by ‘Sheba’. Strictly, ‘Sheba’ means the cognitions of those things – and this is why they are here called ‘merchandise’ – with which those who become members of the Church are endowed, for without cognitions no one is able to become a member of the Church.

[5] Similar things were represented by the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon and brought him spices, gold, and precious stones, 1 Kings 10:1-3, and also by the wise men from the east who came to Jesus at His birth, and who fell down and worshipped Him, and who opened their treasures, and offered Him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Matt. 2:1, 11. These gifts meant celestial, spiritual, and natural good. In Jeremiah,

To what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba, and best sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable. Jer. 6:20.

Here also it is evident that ‘Sheba’ stands for cognitions and adoration, meant by ‘frankincense and sweet cane’, though here they are those things devoid of charity, which are not pleasing.

AC (Elliott) n. 1172 1172. ‘Dedan’ means cognitions of lower celestial things that exist in ritual forms. This is clear from the following places in the Word: In Ezekiel,

The sons of Dedan were your traders, many islands were the merchandise of your hand; horns of ivory, and ebony they brought as your present. Ezek. 27:15

‘Horns of ivory, and ebony’ in the internal sense means the exterior goods that constitute forms of worship or ritual. In the same prophet,

Dedan, she was your trader in chariot-cloaks,* Arabia and all the princes of Kedar Ezek. 27:20, 21.

Here ‘chariot-cloaks’* in like manner means exterior goods, or those that constitute forms of ritual. In Jeremiah,

Their wisdom has become rotten. Flee! they have turned themselves away, they have taken themselves down to dwell in the deep, O inhabitants of Dedan. Jer. 49:7, 8.

Here ‘Dedan’ in the proper sense stands for forms of ritual which have no internal worship, that is, no worship of the Lord from the heart within them, and which are spoken of as ‘turning themselves back, and taking themselves down to dwell in the deep’. From the quotations above it is now clear that ‘the sons of Cush’ means cognitions of spiritual things, and ‘the sons of Raamah’ cognitions of celestial.
* lit. garments of liberty for the chariot – possibly garments with loose sleeves

AC (Elliott) n. 1173 1173. Verses 8, 9 And Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty man in the land. He was mighty in hunting before Jehovah; therefore it used to be said, Like Nimrod, mighty in hunting before Jehovah.

Here, as previously, ‘Cush’ means interior cognitions of spiritual and celestial things. ‘Nimrod’ means those who made internal worship external, and so means such external worship. ‘Cush begot Nimrod’ means that those who had cognitions of interior things were the instigators of such worship. ‘He was a mighty man in the land’ means that this kind of religion in the Church became more prevalent – ‘land’ is the Church, as previously. ‘He was mighty in hunting before Jehovah’ means that he persuaded many people. ‘Therefore it used to be said, Like Nimrod, mighty in hunting before Jehovah’ means that since so many were being persuaded this became a proverbial expression. In addition to this it means that such a religion easily captivates people’s minds.

AC (Elliott) n. 1174 1174. That ‘Cush’ means interior cognitions of spiritual and celestial things is clear from what has been stated and shown already about Cush.

AC (Elliott) n. 1175 1175. That ‘Nimrod’ means those who made internal worship external, and so means such external worship, becomes clear from what follows. But first of all it should be mentioned here what is meant by making internal worship external. It has been stated and shown already that internal worship, which springs from love and charity, is worship itself, and that external worship without that internal is not worship at all. Making internal worship external however consists in making external worship essential instead of internal, which is the reverse of worship itself. It is like saying that internal worship without external is no worship, when in reality external worship without internal is no worship at all. Such is the religion of people who separate faith from charity. That is to say, they make matters of faith more important than matters of charity, or rather, they make things which constitute cognitions of faith more important than the things which constitute life, and so make outward forms more important than inner essentials. All external worship is the outward form of internal worship, for internal worship is the inner essential itself. Making worship consist of the outward form devoid of its inner essential is making internal worship external. It is like saying, for example, that if a person lived where there was no Church, no preaching, no sacraments, and no priesthood, it would be impossible for him to be saved or to have any kind of worship, when in fact he is able to worship the Lord from what is internal. It does not follow from this however that there should not be external worship.

[2] To make the point plainer still, take as another example people who make the essential of worship consist in going to church, attending the sacraments, listening to sermons, praying, celebrating the festivals, and many more practices of an external and ceremonial nature, and who convince themselves, while talking of faith, that these activities, which are the outward forms of worship, are sufficient. People, it is true, who make worship springing from love and charity the essential engage in the same activities, that is to say, they go to church, attend the sacraments, listen to sermons, pray, celebrate the festivals, and much else, doing so most earnestly and carefully. But they do not make these practices the essential of worship. Since their external worship has internal worship within it, it has that which is holy and living within it; whereas the worship of the people mentioned above does not have anything holy or living within it. For it is the inner essential itself that makes the external form or ceremony holy and living. Faith separated from charity cannot make worship holy and living, for its essence and life are missing. Such worship is called ‘Nimrod’ and is born out of the cognitions, meant by ‘Cush’, which in turn are born out of faith separated from charity, a faith meant by ‘Ham’. From Ham, or separated faith, through cognitions which belong to separated faith, no other kind of worship can possibly be born. These are the considerations meant by ‘Nimrod’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1176 1176. That ‘Cush begot Nimrod’ means that those who had cognitions of interior things were the instigators of such worship is clear from what has just been stated. Cognitions of interior things are what they call matters of doctrine, which they also distinguish from ritual forms. For example, their chief point of doctrine is that faith alone saves, but they are not aware of the fact that love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour constitute faith itself, and that the cognitions which they call faith exist for no other purpose than that through them people may receive from the Lord love to Him and love towards the neighbour, and that this is the faith which saves. Those who refer to cognitions alone as faith are the people who beget and instigate the kind of worship described above.

AC (Elliott) n. 1177 1177. ‘He was a mighty man in the land’ means that this kind of religion in the Church became more prevalent. This becomes clear from what follows next. The fact that ‘the land’ is the Church has been shown already in 620, 636, 662, and elsewhere.

AC (Elliott) n. 1178 1178. ‘He was mighty in hunting before Jehovah’ means that he persuaded many people. This is clear from the fact that faith separated from charity is such, and also from the meaning of ‘hunting’ in the Word. Faith separated from charity is such that people are easily persuaded. The vast majority of mankind do not know what internal things are, but they do know what external are. The vast majority are also given to sensualism, low pleasures and desires, considering only themselves and the world, and are therefore easily captivated by that kind of religion. From the meaning of ‘hunting’: in the Word ‘hunting’ means in general persuading and in particular captivating people’s minds, by pandering to the senses, low pleasures and desires, and by the use of matters of doctrine which in an arbitrary fashion they explain in a way that satisfies their own disposition and that of the other person. They do this for the selfish reason that they may be important in position and in wealth, and so by the use of persuasion.

[2] This is clear in Ezekiel,

Woe to those who sew little pillows on all the joints of My hands and make veils upon the head [of persons] of every stature to hunt souls! You hunt souls for My people, and you keep souls alive for yourselves; and you have desecrated Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for crusts of bread, to slay souls that will not die, and to keep alive souls that will not live, by lying to My people that listen to lies. behold, I am against your little pillows with which you there hunt the souls to make them fly away, and I will tear them from on your arms, and I will let the souls go that you hunt, souls to fly away; and I will tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they will be no more in your hand to be hunted. Ezek. 13:18-21.

These verses explain what ‘hunting’ means – a deceiving by means of persuasions and by means of cognitions which they pervert and explain to their own advantage, and at the same time according to the other person’s disposition.

[3] In Micah,

The compassionate man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood;* they hunt every man his brother with a net. When they do evil with the hands instead of doing good, the prince asks for and gives judgement for the sake of a reward, and the great man utters the perversity of his soul; and they twist it around. Micah 7:2, 3.

This in a similar way explains what ‘hunting’ means, namely lying in wait for the sake of self, that is, calling true that which is false, uttering perversity, and twisting things around, and in these ways persuading. In David,

A slanderer** will not be established in the land; as for the violent man, evil hunts him down, to overthrow him! Ps. 140:11.

This refers to wicked persons who persuade by means of falsities, think wickedly, and speak smoothly, with deceitful intent. ‘Tongue’ here stands for lying.
* lit. bloods
** lit. A man of tongue

AC (Elliott) n. 1179 1179. ‘Therefore it used to be said, Like Nimrod, mighty in hunting before Jehovah’ means that since so many were being persuaded this became a proverbial expression. In addition to this it means that such a religion easily captivates people’s minds. This becomes clear from what has been stated and also from the actual sense of the letter. Moreover because in early times names were given to real things this name was given to this form of worship, that is to say, it used to be said that ‘Nimrod’, meaning that form of worship, was ‘mighty in hunting’, that is, was one that captivated people’s minds. The reason for the words ‘before Jehovah’ is that people with whom that form of worship existed called separated faith ‘Jehovah’ or ‘a man Jehovah’, as is clear from what has been stated already about Cain in 340, who likewise means faith separated from charity. The difference between Cain and Ham however lies in the fact that the former existed in the celestial Church which had perception, while the latter existed in the spiritual Church which had none. As a consequence the former was far more monstrous than the latter. In early times such people were called ‘mighty’, as in Isaiah,

All the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end, and the remainder of the number of the bows of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be diminished. Isa. 21:16, 17.

And in Hosea,

You have ploughed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lying, because you have trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men. Hosea 10:13.

And in other places. They called themselves ‘men’ (vir) and ‘mighty’ from faith, for one particular word in the original language expresses the idea of being ‘mighty’ and at the same time that of a man (vir), and it is used in the Word in reference to faith, and indeed in both senses.

AC (Elliott) n. 1180 1180. Verse 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

‘The beginning of his kingdom’ means that such worship began in this manner. ‘Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar’ means that these types of worship existed in those areas. At the same time these nations mean the types of worship themselves, whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy.

AC (Elliott) n. 1181 1181. That ‘the beginning of his kingdom’ means that such worship began in this manner is clear from the meaning of ‘Babel in the land of Shinar’, to be dealt with further on.

AC (Elliott) n. 1182 1182. ‘Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar’ means that these types of worship existed in those areas, and that at the same time these same nations mean types of worship themselves, whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Babel’ and of ‘the land of Shinar’. In the Word much reference is made to Babel, and wherever it occurs it means such worship, that is to say, worship whose exteriors look holy but whose interiors are unholy. But since Babel is the subject in the next chapter it will be shown there that Babel means such things, and also that such worship in the beginning was not as unholy as it became subsequently. For the real nature of external worship is determined entirely by its interiors. The more undefiled the interiors are, the more undefiled is the external worship, but the more foul the interiors the more foul the external worship. And the more unholy the interiors are, the more unholy is the external worship. To put it briefly, the more love of the world and self-love exist in someone with whom external worship exists, the less life and holiness his worship has within it. The more hatred towards the neighbour there is present within his self-love and love of the world, the more unholiness his worship has within it. The more wickedness there is present within his hatred, the more unholiness still his worship has within it. And the more deceit that wickedness contains, the more unholiness still his worship has within it. These types of love and these forms of evil are the interior features of the external worship meant by ‘Babel’, which is dealt with in the next chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 1183 1183. The specific meaning of ‘Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar’ is not so clear because, with the exception of Calneh in Amos 6:2, these names are not mentioned anywhere else in the Word; but they are different forms of such worship. As for the land of Shinar however in which these forms of worship existed, it is clear that in the Word it means external worship which has within it that which is unholy. This is clear from its meaning in verse 2 of the next chapter, also in Zechariah 5:11, and especially in Daniel, where the following words appear,

The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, and part of the vessels of the house of God; and he took them away into the land of Shinar, into the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the house of the treasury of his god. Dan. 1:2.

This reference means that holy things were profaned. ‘The vessels of the house of God’ are holy things, ‘the house of the god of the king of Babel in the land of Shinar’ the unholy into which the holy were brought. Although these are historical events they nevertheless embody those
arcana within them, as do all the historical narratives of the Word. The matter is made clearer still by the profanation of the same vessels, referred to in Daniel 5:3-5. Unless those events had represented holy things they would never have taken place.

AC (Elliott) n. 1184 1184. Verses 11, 12 Out of that land went Asshur, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth city, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; this is that great city.

‘Out of that land went Asshur’ means that those with whom such external worship existed started to engage in reasoning about the internal aspects of worship, ‘Asshur’ being reasoning. ‘And he built Nineveh, and Rehoboth city, and Calah’ means that in this way they formulated for themselves doctrinal teachings concerning faith – ‘Nineveh’ means falsities contained in those teachings, as do ‘Rehoboth and Calah’ though falsities from a different source. ‘Resen between Nineveh and Calah’ means that they also formulated for themselves doctrinal teachings concerning life -‘Resen’ means derivative falsities contained in doctrinal teachings. ‘Nineveh’ is falsity that results from reasonings, ‘Calah’ falsity that results from evil desires; ‘between Nineveh and Calah’ is falsity resulting from both. ‘This is that great city’ means that those matters of doctrine prevailed more and more.

AC (Elliott) n. 1185 1185. That ‘out of that land went Asshur’ means that those with whom such external worship existed started to engage in reasoning about the internal aspects of worship becomes clear from the meaning of ‘Asshur’ in the Word as reason and reasoning, to be dealt with immediately below. This verse can be read in two different ways – that is to say, ‘Asshur went out of that land’ or ‘Nimrod went out of that land into Asshur (or Assyria)’. It is worded in this way because both ideas are meant, both the idea that reasoning concerning spiritual and celestial things is the outcome of such worship, meant by Asshur’s going out of the land of Shinar, and also the idea that such worship engages in reasoning concerning spiritual and celestial things, meant by Nimrod’s going out of the land into Asshur or Assyria.

AC (Elliott) n. 1186 1186. That ‘Asshur’ is reasoning is clear from the meaning of ‘Asshur’ or Assyria in the Word, where in every case it stands for those things that belong to reason. It stands for them in both senses, namely for rational things and for reasonings – reason and rational things being used strictly speaking to mean things that are true, and reasoning and reasonings to mean those that are false. Because ‘Asshur’ means reason and reasoning it is very frequently linked with Egypt, which means facts, for reason and reasoning are based on facts. That Asshur means reasoning is clear in Isaiah,

Woe to Asshur, the rod of My anger, he does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right He has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have intelligence. Isa. 10:5, 7, 13.

Here ‘Asshur’ stands for reasoning, and therefore he is referred to as ‘not thinking and not considering what is right’, and it is said that ‘he acts by his own wisdom, for he has intelligence’.

[2] In Ezekiel,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. One committed whoredom and doted on her lovers, on Asshur (the Assyrians), her neighbours, clothed in violet, leaders and governors, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses The sons of Babel came to her and they defiled her with their whoredom. Ezek. 23:2, 3, 5, 6, 17.

Here ‘Egypt’ stands for facts, ‘Asshur’ for reasoning, ‘the sons of Babel’ for falsities springing from evil desires.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jerusalem, you committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, you committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, you multiplied your whoredom even into the land of Canaan towards Chaldaea. Ezek. 16:26, 28, 29.

Here likewise ‘Egypt’ stands for facts, ‘Asshur’ for reasoning. Reasoning, based on facts, concerning spiritual and celestial things is called ‘whoredom’ both here and elsewhere in the Word. Anyone may see that committing whoredom with Egyptians and with Assyrians is not the meaning.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Israel, what have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River (the Euphrates)? Jer. 2:18, 36.

Here likewise ‘Egypt’ stands for facts, ‘Asshur’ for reasoning. In the same prophet,

Israel is a scattered flock; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Asshur has devoured him, and last this king of Babel has removed his bones. Jer. 50:17, 18

‘Asshur’ stands for reasoning concerning spiritual things.

[5] In Micah,

And this will be peace, when Asshur comes into our land and when he treads our palaces, and we will set up over him seven shepherds and eight princes of men and they will rule the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates; and he will deliver [us] from Asshur when he comes into our land and when he treads our border. Micah 5:5, 6.

This refers to Israel, or the spiritual Church, concerning which it is said that ‘Asshur will not enter in’, that is, reasoning will not do so. ‘The land of Nimrod’ stands for the kind of worship meant by Nimrod, which has interior evils and falsities within it.

[6] The fact that in the Word ‘Asshur’ also means reason present with the member of the Church, by means of which reason he sees clearly what is true and what is good, is clear in Hosea,

They will tremble like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove from the land of Asshur. Hosea 11:11.

Here ‘Egypt’ stands for the knowledge a member of the Church possesses, ‘Asshur’ for his reason. That ‘a bird’ means facts that are known and understood, and ‘a dove’ rational good, has been shown already.

[7] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt and Egypt into Asshur, and the Egyptians will serve Asshur.* On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isa 19:23-25.

This refers to the spiritual Church, meant by Israel, ‘Asshur’ being its reason, and ‘Egypt’ its knowledge. These three constitute the intellectual powers of the member of the spiritual Church which come in that order one after another. In other places where Asshur is mentioned it means the rational, true or false, as in Isaiah 20:1-end; 23:13; 27:13; 30:30; 31:8; 36 and 37; 52:4; Ezek. 27:23, 24; 31:3-end; Micah 7:12; Zeph. 2:13; Zech. 10:11; Ps. 83:8. ‘Asshur’ stands for reasoning in Hosea 5:13; 7:11; 10:6; 11:5; 12:1; 14:3; and in Zech. 10:10, where the reference is to Ephraim who means the intellectual part of the mind, though in this instance when perverted.
* The Hebrew of this text in Isaiah may be read in two different ways – serve Asshur or serve with Asshur. Most English versions of Isaiah prefer the second of these.

AC (Elliott) n. 1187 1187. ‘He built Nineveh, and Rehoboth city, and Calah’ means that in this way they formulated for themselves doctrinal teachings concerning faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Nineveh and Rehoboth and Calah’, to be dealt with in the paragraphs following immediately after this, and from the meaning of ‘a city’ in the Word, as doctrine, true or heretical, as shown already in 402.

AC (Elliott) n. 1188 1188. ‘Nineveh’ means falsities contained in those teachings, as do ‘Rehoboth and Calah’ though falsities from a different source. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Nineveh’ in the Word, dealt with below. Falsities of this kind arise from three sources. The first source is the illusions of the senses – when the understanding, being in obscurity, is unenlightened – and also ignorance. This is the source of the falsity meant by ‘Nineveh’. The second source is the same, but with some predominating desire present, for innovation or pre-eminence. This is the source of the falsities meant by Rehoboth. And the third is that of the will, and so of evil desires. In this case people are unwilling to acknowledge anything as true except that which is favorable to evil desires. This is the source of the falsities called Calah. All of these falsities arise through Asshur, or reasonings concerning the truths and goods of faith.

[2] That ‘Nineveh’ means falsities arising from the illusions of the senses when the understanding, being in obscurity, is unenlightened, and also from ignorance, is clear in the case of Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh, a city that was pardoned because they were such. It is clear also from the facts recorded in the Book of Jonah regarding Nineveh, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere. Though the details there are historical they are nevertheless prophetical, embodying and representing such arcana, in the way every other historical part of the Word does.

[3] Similarly in Isaiah, when the king of Asshur is referred to as remaining in Nineveh, and, when he bowed down in the house of Nisroch his god, is referred to as slain by his sons with a sword, Isa. 37:37, 38. Although these details are historical they are nevertheless prophetical, embodying and representing arcana of a like nature. ‘Nineveh’ in this case means external worship that has falsities within it which, being idolatrous, ‘is slain by his sons with a sword’, ‘sons’ meaning falsities, as shown already. ‘A sword’ is the punishment of falsity, as everywhere else in the Word. In Zephaniah also,

Jehovah will stretch out His hand over the north, and will destroy Asshur, and He will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like a desert. Flocks will lie down in the midst of her, every wild beast of that nation. The spoonbill also and the duck will lodge in its pomegranates.* A voice will sing in the window, vastation will be on the threshold, for her cedar has been laid bare. Zeph. 2:13, 14.

This describes Nineveh, though in the prophetical style, and falsity itself meant by ‘Nineveh’. Because that falsity is worshipped it is called ‘the north, a wild beast of the nation, the spoonbill and the duck in pomegranates’ and is expressed as ‘a voice singing in the window and a cedar laid bare’, which is intellectual truth. Every one of these expressions is used to mean such falsity.
* The original Hebrew word is thought to describe capitals shaped like pomegranates.

AC (Elliott) n. 1189 1189. ‘Calah’ means falsities which have their origins in evil desires. This cannot be confirmed from prophetical, but only from the historical portions of the Word, which record that the king of Asshur carried away the children of Israel into Asshur, or Assyria, and made them dwell in Calah, and in Habor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of Media, 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11. Here the historical details embody nothing else. In fact, as has been stated, all historical accounts in the Word carry a spiritual meaning and are representative. Thus ‘Israel’ here means the corrupted spiritual Church, ‘Asshur’ reasoning, and ‘Calah’ such falsity.

AC (Elliott) n. 1190 1190. ‘Resen between Nineveh and Calah’ means that they also formulated for themselves doctrinal teachings concerning life -‘Resen’ means derivative falsities contained in doctrinal teachings. This becomes clear from what has just been shown concerning Nineveh and Calah, and also from the train of thought, in that the previous verse dealt with falsities of doctrine, the present verse with falsities of life. For the style of the Word is such, especially the prophetical style, that when matters of the understanding are dealt with, those of the will are dealt with as well. The previous verse dealt with those of the understanding, that is, with falsities of doctrine, whereas the present verse deals with falsities of life, meant by ‘Resen’. As no further mention is made of ‘Resen’ in the Word this matter cannot so easily be confirmed, except from the fact that ‘Resen was built between Nineveh and Calah’ – that is, between falsity arising from reasonings and falsity arising from evil desires which produces falsity of life- and also from the fact that it is called ‘a great city’ since all this is the product of falsities both of the understanding and of the will.

AC (Elliott) n. 1191 1191. ‘This is that great city’ means that those matters of doctrine prevailed more and more. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a city’ as true doctrine or false doctrine, as was shown in 402, and from its being called ‘a great city’ because all falsity of doctrine, and of worship arising out of this, leads to falsity of life.

AC (Elliott) n. 1192 1192. In verse 10 just above the subject was evils present in worship, which were meant by Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. In the present two verses the subject has been the falsities in worship, meant by Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. Falsities consist of assumptions based on reasonings, evils consist of desires arising out of love of the world and self-love.

AC (Elliott) n. 1193 1193. Verses 13, 14 And Mizraim* begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, from whom Pelishtim** came forth, and Caphtorim.

‘Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Caphtorim’ means just so many nations by whom just so many types of ritual forms are meant, ‘Mizraim’ being knowledge, ‘Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, and Naphtuhim’ just so many forms of ritual that exist merely as items of knowledge. ‘Pathrusim and Casluhim’ are nations so called who mean matters of doctrine that are formed into rituals from a similar origin and that exist solely as items of knowledge. ‘From whom Pelishtim came forth’ means the nation coming from these, by which a knowledge of the cognitions of faith and charity is meant – ‘from whom they came forth’ meaning that cognitions, as these exist with them, are facts.
* The Hebrew name for Egypt
** The Hebrew name for the Philistines

AC (Elliott) n. 1194 1194. That ‘Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, and Caphtorim’ means just so many nations by whom just so many types of ritual forms are meant becomes clear from what has been shown above at verse 6 of this chapter concerning ‘Mizraim’ or Egypt, to the effect that ‘Egypt’ means knowledge or facts. Those who are said to be begotten from him cannot be anything else, that is, anything other than ritual forms, those in fact that go with external worship. For the Lord’s Word in its bosom and inner recesses, that is, in the internal sense, never deals with anything other than things to do with His kingdom, and so with His Church. Consequently things that were born from facts by means of reasonings are here nothing else than forms of ritual.

AC (Elliott) n. 1195 1195. That ‘Mizraim’ or Egypt is knowledge has been shown already at verse 6 of this chapter; that ‘Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, and Naphtuhim’ are just so many forms of ritual that exist merely as items of knowledge is clear from what has just been stated. People who probe into spiritual and celestial things by means of reasonings and who thereby produce a form of worship for themselves are said to possess forms of ritual that exist merely as items of knowledge. Because the forms of ritual belonging to such worship originate in reasonings and in factual knowledge they are called fact-constituted forms of ritual, which have nothing spiritual or celestial within them because they originate in self. Such was the origin of Egyptian idols and so of magic. And such being the origin of those people’s ritual forms they utterly rejected the religious practices of the Ancient Church; indeed they were repelled by them and loathed them, as is clear from Gen. 43:32; 46:34; Exod. 8:26. Because those things are meant, they are said to be begotten from Mizraim or Egypt, that is, from facts. And because their facts were diversified, so also were the ritual forms originating in them. These diversities in general were meant by just so many nations. That the Ludim or Lydians mean such things is clear from Jeremiah,

Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers the waters are tossed about; and he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it Go up, O horses, and rage, O chariots, and let the mighty men go forth, Cush and Put, that handle the shield, and the Ludim that handle and bend the bow. Jer. 46:8, 9.

Here ‘the rivers of Egypt’ are diverse facts that are false ‘Going up and covering the earth’ is entering into those things that constitute the Church or faith by means of facts ‘Destroying the city’ is destroying truths. ‘Cush and Put’ are cognitions ‘The Lydians’ are fact-constituted forms of ritual, the subject of the present verse. ‘Handling and bending the bow’ is engaging in reasoning.

AC (Elliott) n. 1196 1196. ‘Pathrusim and Casluhim’ are nations so called who mean matters of doctrine that are formed into rituals from a similar origin and that exist solely as items of knowledge. This is evident from what has been stated, and from the fact that they follow in that sequence. Regarding the Pathrusim, see Isa. 11:11, 12; Ezek. 29:13-15; 30:13, 14; Jer. 44:1, 15.

AC (Elliott) n. 1197 1197. ‘From whom Pelishtim came forth’ means the nation which came from these, and which means a knowledge of the cognitions of faith and charity. This is clear from the Word where they are mentioned many times. In the Ancient Church all were called Philistines who spoke much about faith and who asserted that salvation lay in faith, and yet possessed nothing of the life of faith. Consequently they more than any others were called uncircumcised, that is, devoid of charity. (For references to them as the uncircumcised, see 1 Sam. 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Sam. 1:20; and elsewhere.) Being such as they were they inevitably made cognitions of faith matters of memory, for cognitions of spiritual and celestial things, and the arcana of faith themselves, become purely matters of memory when a person who is acquainted with them is devoid of charity. Things of the memory are so to speak dead if the person is not such that he lives according to them from conscience. When he does live according to them from conscience things of the memory are in that case matters of life as well, and only then do they remain with him for his use and salvation following life in the body. Knowledge and cognitions are of no value to anyone in the next life, even though he may have known all the arcana that have ever been revealed, if they have made no impact on his life.

[2] Throughout the prophetical parts of the Word ‘the Philistines’ means people such as these, as they do in the historical sections of the Word, as when Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines and made a covenant with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, Gen. 20:1-end; 21:22-end; 26:1-33. Because the Philistines here meant cognitions of faith, and because Abraham represented the celestial things of faith, he sojourned there and made a covenant with them. So likewise did Isaac, who represented the spiritual things of faith. But Jacob did not do so because he represented the external features of the Church.

[3] That ‘the Philistines’ means, in general, knowledge of the cognitions of faith, and in particular people who make faith and salvation reside in cognitions alone which they make matters of memory, becomes clear also in Isaiah,

Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod which smites you has been broken, for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying prester. Isa. 14:29

Here ‘the serpent’s root’ stands for facts, ‘an adder’ for evil arising out of falsities based on facts. ‘The fruits of a flying prester’ is their works which, because they are the product of evil desires, are called ‘a flying prester’

[4] In Joel,

What are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? Swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head, inasmuch as you have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples, and have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Javanites,* that you might remove them far away from their border. Joel 3:4-6.

What ‘the Philistines’ and the whole of Philistia, or ‘all its borders’, are used to mean here is plain. ‘Silver’ and ‘gold’ here are the spiritual and celestial things of faith, ‘good and desirable treasures’ cognitions of them. ‘They carried them into their temples’ means that they were in possession of them and proclaimed them. ‘They sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem’ however means that they possessed no love and no faith. In the Word ‘Judah’ is the celestial element of faith, and ‘Jerusalem’ the spiritual element deriving from it, which were ‘removed far away from their borders’. Further examples exist in the Prophets, such as Jer. 25:20; 47:1-end; Ezek. 16:27, 57; 25:15, 16; Amos 1:8; 0bad. verse 19; Zeph. 2:5; Ps. 87:4; and the people of Caphtor are mentioned in Deut. 2:23; Jer. 47:4; Amos 9:7.
* i.e. the Greeks

AC (Elliott) n. 1198 1198. ‘From whom they came forth’ means that cognitions, as these exist with them, are facts. This is clear from what has been stated. These are not said to have been ‘begotten’ by those who belonged to Egypt but to have ‘gone forth’, for they are not such as use natural and factual knowledge to reason about spiritual and celestial things and in so doing fabricate for themselves doctrinal teachings, as do those described before. Instead they learn cognitions of faith from another source, but have no other end in view to knowing and retaining these in the memory than they have with other things in which they have no interest beyond merely knowing them, and only then for the reason that by so knowing they may be promoted to positions of importance, and for other like reasons. So different is knowledge of cognitions of faith from knowledge of natural things that the two have scarcely anything in common. This explains why they are not said to have been ‘bore’ but to have ‘gone forth’ from them. Such being the character of ‘Philistines’ they inevitably pervert cognitions of faith by means of reasonings from them, and as a consequence fabricate false doctrines for themselves. They belong therefore among those who are barely able to be regenerated and to receive charity, both because they are uncircumcised at heart and because the false assumptions and consequently the life of their understanding hinder and prevent.

AC (Elliott) n. 1199 1199. Verse 15 And Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth.

Here, as previously, ‘Canaan’ means external worship that has nothing internal within it. ‘Sidon’ means the exterior cognitions of spiritual things, and because such cognitions are the primary things of such external worship Sidon is called Canaan’s ‘firstborn.’ ‘Heth’ means the exterior cognitions of celestial things.

AC (Elliott) n. 1200 1200. That ‘Canaan’ means external worship that has nothing internal within it has been shown already where Canaan was the subject. The type of external worship which is called ‘Canaan’ is similar to that of the Jews before the Lord’s Coming, and after it as well. They had an external worship, which they also celebrated meticulously, yet they were unaware of what is internal, indeed so unaware of it as to imagine that they lived solely with a body. Of the soul, or faith, or the Lord, or spiritual and celestial life, or life after death, they were totally ignorant. Consequently very many in the Lord’s time said that there was no resurrection, as is clear in Matt. 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40. When a person is such that he does not believe he will live after death, he also does not believe in the existence of anything internal which is spiritual and celestial. This applies also to people whose lives are sunk in wholly evil desires because they lead merely bodily and worldly lives, especially those who are steeped in filthy avarice. They nevertheless have worship, some going to synagogue, or to church, and taking part in the services, some most meticulously. But because they do not believe in a life after death their worship is inevitably external worship having nothing internal within it, like a shell without a nut, and like a tree on which there is no fruit or even leaves. Such external worship is meant by ‘Canaan’. All other types of external worship dealt with above were forms of worship that had internal things within them.

AC (Elliott) n. 1201 1201. That ‘Sidon’ means the exterior cognitions of spiritual things is clear from the fact that he is called ‘Canaan’s firstborn’, for in the internal sense the firstborn of every Church is faith, see 352, 367. Here however, where faith does not exist because internal things are missing they are no more than exterior cognitions of spiritual things taking the place of faith, thus cognitions such as those with the Jews which are cognitions not only of the ceremonies of external worship but also of many other things belonging to that worship, such as matters of doctrine. That ‘Sidon’ has this meaning is also evident from the fact that Tyre and Sidon were the furthest limits of Philistia, and were in fact by the sea. ‘Tyre’ therefore meant interior cognitions, and ‘Sidon’ those which were exterior, and yet cognitions of spiritual things. This is also clear from the Word: in Jeremiah,

On the day that is coming to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains, for Jehovah is laying waste the Philistines, the remnants of the island of Caphtor. Jer. 47:4.

Here ‘the Philistines’ stands for knowledge of the cognitions of faith and charity, ‘Tyre’ for interior cognitions, and ‘Sidon’ for cognitions of spiritual things.

[2] In Joel,

What are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? You have taken My silver and gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples. Joel 3:4, 5.

Here ‘Tyre’ and ‘Sidon’ clearly stand for cognitions and are called ‘the borders of Philistia’, for ‘gold and silver’ and ‘good and desirable treasures’ are cognitions. In Ezekiel,

The princes of the north, all of them, and every Sidonian, who have gone down with the slain* into the pit. He was made to lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain’ by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude. Ezek. 32:30, 32.

Here ‘the Sidonian’ stands for exterior cognitions, which when devoid of things that are internal are nothing else than facts, and it is for this reason that he is mentioned along with Pharaoh, or Egypt, who means facts. In Zechariah,

Hamath also will border on it, Tyre and Sidon, for it is exceedingly wise. Zech. 9:2.

This refers to Damascus. ‘Tyre and Sidon’ stands for cognitions.

[3] In Ezekiel,

The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your wise men, O Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots. Ezek 27:8.

Here ‘Tyre’ stands for interior cognitions, and therefore her wise men are called ‘pilots’, while ‘Sidon’ stands for exterior cognitions and her inhabitants are therefore called ‘rowers’, for such is the relationship of interior cognitions to exterior. In Isaiah,

The inhabitants of the island are silent, O merchant of Sidon passing over the sea; they have replenished you. But on the great waters the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the river, was her revenue, and was the merchandise of nations. Blush, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea saying, I have not gone into labour, nor have I given birth, nor reared young men, nor brought up virgins. Isa 23:2-5.

Here ‘Sidon’ stands for exterior cognitions which, because they have nothing internal within them are called ‘the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the river, her revenue, the merchandise of the nations’, and also ‘the sea, the stronghold of the sea’, and ‘one that does not go into labour and give birth’. What these expressions may mean could never be discerned in the literal sense, but their meaning is perfectly plain in the internal sense, as with everything else in the Prophets. Since ‘Sidon’ means exterior cognitions it is also referred to as the region surrounding Israel, which is the spiritual Church, Ezek 28:24, 26, for exterior cognitions are like a surrounding region.
* lit. pierced

AC (Elliott) n. 1202 1202. Because these cognitions are the primary things of such external worship which has no internal worship within it, ‘Sidon’ is called ‘Canaan’s firstborn’. This has just been explained in the previous paragraph.

AC (Elliott) n. 1203 1203. ‘Heth’ means exterior cognitions of celestial things, as is clear from what is said above. In the Prophets it is common for spiritual and celestial things to be linked together, that is, when spiritual things are dealt with so are celestial things, the reason being that one stems from the other, and perfection is somewhat lacking if they are not linked together. Consequently a likeness to the heavenly marriage exists in every single part of the Word. From this as well as other places in the Word it is also clear that Sidon means exterior cognitions of spiritual things, while Heth means exterior cognitions of celestial things. They are used in both senses, that is to say, either when internals are missing or when they are present, as well as being used to stand simply for exterior cognitions. As stated frequently already, spiritual things are those that belong to faith, celestial things those that belong to love. Spiritual things are also those that belong to the understanding, and celestial those that belong to the will. That ‘Heth’ means exterior cognitions devoid of internal is clear in Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, Your tracings and your nativity are of the land of Canaan Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. You are the daughter of your mother who loathes her husband and her sons; and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their sons. Your mother is a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Ezek. 16:3, 45.

Here external worship devoid of internal is ‘Canaan’. ‘Loathing husbands and sons’ is spurning goods and truths, and this is why their mother is called ‘a Hittite’. In addition to this ‘Heth’ in the Word also stands for exterior cognitions of celestial things in a good sense, as, for reasons dealt with already, almost all names of lands, cities, nations, and persons are so used. In the Lord’s Divine mercy the meaning of ‘Heth’ will be dealt with later on Cognitions of spiritual things are those that have regard to faith, and so to doctrine, while cognitions of celestial things are those that have regard to love, and so to life.

AC (Elliott) n. 1204 1204. Verses 16-18 And the Jebusites, and the Amorites, and the Girgashites, and the Hivites, and the Arkites, and the Sinites, and the Arvadites, and the Zemarites, and the Hamathites; and afterwards the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.

‘The Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites’ were just so many nations, who also mean just so many different forms of idolatry. ‘And afterwards the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad’ means that all other forms of idolatrous worship stem from these.

AC (Elliott) n. 1205 1205. That ‘the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites’ were just so many nations, who also mean just so many different forms of idolatry, and that those nations mean forms of idolatry, is clear from many places in the Word, for they were inhabitants of the land of Canaan who on account of their idolatry were rejected and partially destroyed. In the internal sense of the Word however it is not those nations that are meant but the forms of idolatry themselves – in general as they exist anywhere at all, and in particular among the Jews. For people who make worship consist solely in externals and have no wish at all to learn of internals, and who when instructed reject them, incline very much to all these forms of idolatry, as is all too clear in the case of the Jews. internal worship alone holds within it the bonds that keep a person back from idolatry, and once those bonds cease to exist there is nothing to hold him back. There are however not only external forms of idolatry but also interior. Into external forms of idolatry rush those people who possess external worship devoid of internal, and into interior forms those people rush possessing external worship whose interiors are foul. These forms of idolatry are likewise meant by these nations. Interior forms of idolatry are just so many falsities and evil desires which they love and adore and which thus take the place of the gods and idols which existed among gentile nations. It would take too long to explain here however which particular falsities and evil desires they are that people adore and which are meant by these nations – by the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. In the Lord’s Divine mercy this will be discussed in the places where these names occur.

AC (Elliott) n. 1206 1206. ‘Afterwards the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad’ means that all other forms of idolatrous worship stem from these. This is clear without explanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 1207 1207. Verse 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you come towards Gerar, as far as Gaza, as you come towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

Here, as previously, ‘Sidon’ means exterior cognitions. ‘Gerar’ means things that have been revealed concerning faith. ‘Gaze’ means things that have been revealed concerning charity. ‘The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you come towards Gerar, as far as Gaza’ means the extension of cognitions towards truth and good with those who have external worship devoid of internal. ‘As you come towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, as far as Lasha’ means the falsities and evils which encompass them.

AC (Elliott) n. 1208 1208. That ‘Sidon’ means exterior cognitions is clear from what has been shown above at verse 15.

AC (Elliott) n. 1209 1209. That ‘Gerar’ means things that have been revealed concerning faith, and thus in general means faith itself, becomes clear from the places where Gerar is mentioned, as in Gen. 20:1; 26:1, 17, whose meaning will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be explained later on.

AC (Elliott) n. 1210 1210. That ‘Gaza’ means things that have been revealed concerning charity becomes clear first of all from the fact that in the Word when spiritual things are dealt with, so also are celestial along with them, that is, when matters of faith are dealt with, so also are those of charity; and secondly from the Word where Gaza is mentioned. It becomes clear in addition from the fact that cognitions extend to faith and right on to charity, which is their furthest limit.

AC (Elliott) n. 1211 1211. ‘The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you come to Gerar, as far as Gaza’ means the extension of cognitions with those who have external worship devoid of internal. This is clear from the meaning of Gerar and Gaza. The borders to all cognitions that have regard to worship, whether external worship or internal, move in that direction, for all worship stems from faith and charity, and that which does not do so is not worship but idolatry. Because the subject is Canaan, that is, external worship and its derivations, it is not the limits and extension of worship but of cognitions that are meant here.

AC (Elliott) n. 1212 1212. ‘As you come towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, as far as Lasha’ means the falsities and evils which encompass them. This becomes clear from the meaning of these same locations when mentioned in historical and prophetical sections of the Word. In general falsities have two sources. The first group derive from the desires that belong to self-love and love of the world, the second from cognitions and facts by way of reasonings. Falsities derived in this way, when they wish to have dominion over truths, are meant by ‘Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim’. The fact that falsities and derivative evils are the borders of external worship which is devoid of internal may become clear to anyone. Such worship has nothing within it other than that which is dead. Consequently whichever way someone turns whose worship is such he stumbles into falsities. There is nothing internal to guide him and keep him on the path of truth, only that which is external to take hold of him wherever evil desire and delusion lead him. Since Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim are all mentioned in historical and prophetical sections of the Word, the specific meaning of each one will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed in those places.

AC (Elliott) n. 1213 1213. Verse 20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

‘The sons of Ham’ means derivations of matters of doctrine and of forms of worship resulting from the corrupted internal worship meant by Ham. ‘According to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations’ means according to the particular and the general character of each one, ‘according to their families’ meaning according to their habits and customs, ‘according to their tongues’ meaning according to their individual beliefs, ‘in their lands’ meaning in general as regards such beliefs, ‘in their nations’ in general as regards such habits and customs.

AC (Elliott) n. 1214 1214. That ‘the sons of Ham’ means derivations of matters of doctrine and of forms of worship resulting from the corrupted internal worship meant by Ham is clear from the meaning of ‘sons’ as matters of doctrine, and from the meaning of ‘Ham’ as corrupted internal worship, dealt with already.

AC (Elliott) n. 1215 1215. ‘According to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations’ means according to the particular and the general character of each one, as was explained at verse 5 above where the same words occur, though in a different order. That verse, in dealing with the sons of Japheth, says that ‘from them the islands of the nations in their lands were spread abroad, everyone according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations’, which meant forms of external worship that have internal worship within them. In that place therefore things connected with doctrine take precedence, whereas here it is those connected with habits and customs or with life.

AC (Elliott) n. 1216 1216. ‘According to their families’ means according to their habits and customs, ‘according to their tongues’ means according to their individual beliefs, ‘in their lands’ means in general as regards such beliefs, and ‘in their nations’ in general as regards such habits and customs. This becomes clear from the meaning in the Word of each of these, namely family, tongue, land, and nation, for which see what has been stated above at verse 5.

AC (Elliott) n. 1217 1217. Verse 21 And to Shem also sons were born.* He was the father of all the sons of Eber; he was Japheth’s elder brother.

‘Shem’ here means the Ancient Church in general. ‘Sons were born to Shem’ here means that from the Ancient Church a new Church arose. ‘Eber’ means the new Church which is to be called the second Ancient Church. ‘He was the father of all the sons of Eber means that this second Ancient Church and what belonged to it arose from the previous Ancient Church as its father. ‘He was Japheth’s elder brother’ means that its worship was external.
* Expressing the original Hebrew literally, the Latin means And to Shem there was born also.

AC (Elliott) n. 1218 1218. That ‘Shem’ here means the Ancient Church in general becomes clear from the fact that here the subject is Eber who is considered next, and from the fact that in this verse he is called ‘Japheth’s elder brother’.

AC (Elliott) n. 1219 1219. That ‘sons were born to Shem’ here means that from the Ancient Church a new Church arose is clear from the contents of this verse, in which reference is made to Eber, by whom that new Ancient Church is meant, to be dealt with in what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 1220 1220. ‘Eber’ means the new Church which is to be called the second Ancient Church. This is clear from what appears below where Eber is the specific subject. ‘Eber’ is mentioned here because that new Church sprang from him. As regards Eber and this second Ancient Church, they will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed in what follows.

AC (Elliott) n. 1221 1221. ‘He was the father of all the sons of Eber’ means that this second Ancient Church and what belonged to it arose from the previous Ancient Church as its father. This likewise will be clear from what follows below regarding Eber and this Church, for Eber forms the subject in verses 24-30 of the present chapter, and from verse 11 to the end of the next.

AC (Elliott) n. 1222 1222. ‘He was Japheth’s elder brother’ means that its worship was external. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Japheth’ as the external Church, dealt with in verse 18 onwards of the previous chapter and in verses 1-5 above of this. Here ‘Shem was Japheth’s elder brother’ means in particular that the internal Church and the external Church are ‘brothers’, for the relationship of internal worship to external worship that has internal worship within it cannot be anything different. It is in fact a blood relationship because charity is the chief thing within both of them; but the internal Church is the ‘elder brother’ because it is prior and interior. ‘Japheth’s elder brother also embodies here the fact that the second Ancient Church called Eber was to the first Ancient Church as a brother, for Japheth in the internal sense means nothing other than the external worship that has internal worship within it, whatever Church it may be. Therefore the worship of this new Ancient Church, which worship was chiefly external, is meant as well. The internal sense of the Word is such that no attention is paid to the historical details of the literal sense when the universal features are being considered, which exist quite separate or abstracted from the literal sense, for the two are completely different from each other. Consequently ‘Japheth’s elder brother’ here means in the internal sense that the worship of the new Ancient Church was external. Unless such worship was meant there would have been no need to state here that he was Japheth’s elder brother.

AC (Elliott) n. 1223 1223. Verse 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.

Here, as previously, Shem means the internal Church. ‘The sons of Shem’ means the attributes of wisdom. ‘Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram’ were just so many nations who mean the attributes of wisdom -‘Elam’ means faith stemming from charity, ‘Asshur’ derivative reason, ‘Arpachshad’ derivative knowledge, ‘Lud’ cognitions of truth, and ‘Aram’ cognitions of good.

AC (Elliott) n. 1224 1224. From these considerations it is clear what these names mean in the internal sense, namely that the Ancient Church, which was an internal Church, was endowed with wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and cognitions of truth and good. Such things are contained in the internal sense even though merely names occur from which nothing is seen in the literal sense, apart from these being just so many origins, or fathers of nations, and so nothing of a doctrinal nature is seen, still less anything spiritual and celestial. The same applies in the Prophets where lists of names are sometimes given which in the internal sense mean real things following one after another in a lovely order.

AC (Elliott) n. 1225 1225. That ‘Shem’ means the internal Church has been stated and shown in verse 18 onwards of the previous chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 1226 1226. That ‘the sons of Shem’ means the attributes of wisdom is clear merely from the fact that ‘Shem’ is the internal Church whose sons mean nothing else than attributes of wisdom. The expression wisdom is used for everything that springs from charity, for it comes by way of charity from the Lord, the source of all wisdom because He is Wisdom itself. From that Wisdom true intelligence derives, also true knowledge, and true cognition. All of these are ‘sons’ of charity, that is, the Lord’s sons begotten by means of charity. And because they are the Lord’s sons begotten by means of charity, each one is referred to as wisdom, for each one has within itself wisdom from which it draws its life; so much so in fact that neither intelligence nor knowledge, nor cognition, receives any life except from the wisdom that belongs to charity, which is the Lord’s.

AC (Elliott) n. 1227 1227. That ‘Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram’ were just so many nations is clear from historical and prophetical sections of the Word where they are mentioned; and that they mean the attributes of wisdom is clear from what has been stated just above and is also stated below. Among these nations an internal Church existed, among others called ‘the sons of Japheth’ an external Church existed. Among those referred to as ‘the sons of Ham’ there was a corrupted internal Church, and among those called ‘the sons of Canaan’ a corrupted external Church. Whether one speaks of internal and external worship, or of an internal and an external Church, it amounts to the same thing.

AC (Elliott) n. 1228 1228. That ‘Elam’ means faith stemming from charity is clear from what an internal Church is essentially. An internal Church is one for which charity is the chief thing and is the source of its thought and activity. The first offspring of charity is nothing else than faith, for it is from charity and nowhere else that faith derives. The fact that ‘Elam’ is faith stemming from charity, or faith itself which constitutes the internal Church, is clear also in Jeremiah,

The Word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning Elam, Behold, I am breaking the bow of Elam, the chief of his power, and I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four ends of heaven, and I will disperse them to all these winds; and there will be no nation to which one of the outcasts of Elam will not come. And I will dismay Elam before their enemies, and before those that seek their soul, and I will bring evil upon them, My fierce anger, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them, and I will set My throne in Elam, and from there I will destroy king and princes. But in the latter days I will bring back the captivity of Elam. Jer. 49:34-39.

[2] In these verses ‘Elam’ is used to refer to faith, or what amounts to the same, to an internal Church that has been debased and corrupted and then restored. It is similar to what is described many times in the Word regarding Judah, Israel, and Jacob, by whom are meant Churches – by Judah the celestial Church, by Israel the spiritual Church, and by Jacob the external Church. After these had become similarly debased, they were to suffer dispersion, after which those dispersed by their enemies were to be regathered and brought back from captivity, by which the creation of a new Church is meant. Thus it is said here regarding ‘Elam’, that is, the internal Church when debased and corrupted, that it was to be ‘dispersed’ and later on ‘brought back again’, at which time ‘Jehovah was to set His throne in Elam’, that is, in the internal Church or internal things of the Church, which are nothing else than the things of faith stemming from charity.

[3] In Isaiah,

The burden of the wilderness of the sea. It comes from the wilderness and from a terrible land. A stern vision has been declared to me; the treacherous dealer deals treacherously and he who lays waste lays waste. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Madai; all its sighing I will cause to cease. Isa. 21:1, 2.

This refers to the Church’s being laid waste by means of Babel. ‘Elam’ here is the internal Church, ‘Madai’ the external Church, or external worship that has internal worship within it. That ‘Madai’ is such a Church or such worship is clear above at verse 2 of this chapter where Madai is called a son of Japheth.

AC (Elliott) n. 1229 1229. That ‘Asshur’ means reason is clear from what has been shown above at verse 11 of this chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 1230 1230. That ‘Arpachshad’ means knowledge cannot be confirmed so easily from the Word, but is clear from the train of thought in what comes before and after.

AC (Elliott) n. 1231 1231. That ‘Lud’ means cognitions of truth is clear from the fact that cognitions of truth are obtained in this manner, namely from the Lord through charity and so through faith, by means of reason and knowledge. It is clear also in Ezekiel,

Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, as your men of war; they hung the shield and helmet in you, they gave you your splendour. Ezek. 27:10.

This refers to Tyre. ‘Lud and Put’ stands for cognitions, which are spoken of as being ‘in its army’ and as being ‘men of war’ because cognitions with the support of reason serve to defend truths, which is also ‘hanging the shield and helmet’. That ‘Put’ means exterior cognitions of the Word, see above at verse 6 of this chapter.

AC (Elliott) n. 1232 1232. That ‘Aram’ or Syria means cognitions of good follows from what has been said above as well as from the Word: in Ezekiel,

Aram was your merchant in the multitude of your handiworks; they exchanged for your wares chrysoprase, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and ramoth,* and rubies. Ezek. 27:16.

This refers to ‘Tyre’ or the possession of cognitions. Here ‘handiworks, chrysoprase, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, ramoth, and rubies’ means nothing else than cognitions of good. In Hosea,

Jacob fled into the field of Aram and served for a wife, and for a wife kept guard. And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. Ephraim has provoked to anger most bitterly. Hosea 12:12-14.

Here ‘Jacob’ stands for the external Church, and ‘Israel’ for the internal spiritual Church. ‘Aram’ stands for cognitions of good, ‘Egypt’ for knowledge that debases, ‘Ephraim’ for debased intelligence. What these mean in this context cannot possibly be deduced from the literal sense, only from the internal sense where, as has been stated, names mean things of the Church. In Isaiah,

Behold, Damascus has been rejected so that it is not a city; it has become a heap of ruins. The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel. Isa. 17:1, 3.

Here ‘the remnant of Aram’ stands for cognitions of good which are called ‘the glory of Israel’. ‘Aram’ or Syria also stands in the contrary sense for cognitions of good that have been debased, for it is usual in the Word for an expression to be used in both senses, see Isa. 7:4-6; 9:12; Deut. 26:5.
* A Hebrew word, the meaning of which is uncertain

AC (Elliott) n. 1233 1233. Verse 23 And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

Here, as previously, ‘Aram’ means cognitions of good. ‘The sons of Aram’ are derivative cognitions and the products of cognitions. ‘Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash’ were just so many types of these cognitions.

AC (Elliott) n. 1234 1234. That ‘Aram’ means cognitions of good has been shown just above, from which it follows that ‘the sons of Aram’ are derivative cognitions and the products of cognitions. Derivative cognitions are natural truths, while the products of cognitions are deeds done in accordance with them. The fact that these things are meant cannot be confirmed so easily from the Word, for they are not among the names that are mentioned frequently. Uz alone is mentioned, in Jer. 25:20 and Lam. 4:21. From this then it follows that ‘Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash’ mean just so many types of these cognitions, and of deeds done in accordance with them.

AC (Elliott) n. 1235 1235. Verse 24 And Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber.

‘Arpachshad’ was a nation so named which means knowledge. ‘Shelah’ likewise was a nation so named which means that which is the product of such knowledge. ‘Eber’ means a nation as well, whose father was thus named Eber, and by whom was meant the second Ancient Church which was separate from the previous Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 1236 1236. That ‘Arpachshad’ was a nation so named and that this nation means knowledge is clear from what has been stated about him just above in verse 22.

AC (Elliott) n. 1237 1237. That ‘Shelah’ likewise was a nation and that this nation means that which is the product of such knowledge follows from the statement that ‘Arpachshad begot Shelah’.