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 s