Arcana Coelestia volume 7

549 Pages·2009·1.74 MB·English

by  Emanuel Swedenborg

Arcana
Coelestia
The heavenly arcana contained in the
Holy Scripture or Word of the Lord
unfolded, beginning with
the book of Genesis
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
Volume 7
(Numbers 4954–5727)
Translated from the Original Latin by
John Clowes
Revised and Edited by
John Faulkner Potts
STANDARD EDITION
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION
West Chester, Pennsylvania
© 2009 Swedenborg Foundation
This version was compiled from electronic files of the
Standard Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg as
further edited by William Ross Woofenden. Pagination of
this PDF document does not match that of the
corresponding printed volumes, and any page references
within this text may not be accurate. However, most if not
all of the numerical references herein are not to page
numbers but to Swedenborg’s section numbers, which are
not affected by changes in pagination. If this work appears
both separately and as part of a larger volume file, its
pagination follows that of the larger volume in both cases.
This version has not been proofed against the original, and
occasional errors in conversion may remain. To purchase the
full set of the Redesigned Standard Edition of Emanuel
Swedenborg’s works, or the available volumes of the latest
translation (the New Century Edition of the Works of
Emanuel Swedenborg), contact the Swedenborg Foundation
at 1-800-355-3222, www.swedenborg.com, or 320 North
Church Street, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380.
Contents
Editor’s Preface
Genesis 39
Charity
Genesis 39
The Grand Man and Correspondence
Genesis 40
Charity
Genesis 40
The Grand Man and Correspondence
Genesis 41
The Grand Man and Correspondence
Genesis 42
The Grand Man and Correspondence
Genesis 43
Correspondence
Critical Notes
ARCANA COELESTIA 3563
Editor’s Preface
This edition of Arcana Coelestia is based on the translation of J.
Clowes and his revisers, as further revised by J. F. Potts. The text
for this edition was electronically scanned from the Foundation’s
Standard Edition. This process has allowed the book to be
completely redesigned and set in a new and more readable typeface.
Certain stylistic changes have also been introduced. These include
modernized spelling and punctuation as well as substituting new
words for terms whose meanings have become obscure or have
changed since the nineteenth century. Arabic numerals have
replaced roman numerals in Bible passages, and certain capitalized
words, including pronouns referring to God, have been lowercased
to reflect contemporary usage. All these changes have been carefully
made in order to make the book easier to read and use while
preserving the dignity and power of the original Latin. On the
whole, however, the Clowes/Potts translation has not been
materially altered.
Volume 7 of Arcana Coelestia continues Swedenborg’s verse-by-
verse exposition, or commentary, of the biblical text of the book of
Genesis. As was the custom in his day, Swedenborg referred to the
Psalms as the book of David, and to the Pentateuch (Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) as the books of
Moses. In this volume Swedenborg also continues his practice of
inserting topical articles or “continuation” passages between each
chapter of the textual exegesis. The page number of the start of
each of these continuations is listed in the table of contents.
The reader may also wish to read the “Prefatory Notes by the
Reviser” in the front of the first volume of this work, as it contains
further details about the publishing history of this first and largest
of Swedenborg’s theological works. It also discloses a critical
decision made by Potts regarding his translating of the several
words used by Swedenborg to refer to “knowledge.” The reader
needs to know that this translation pattern was not followed by
other translators of Swedenborg.
ARCANA COELESTIA 3564
As with previous printings, the bold numerals in brackets ([2],
[3], etc.) indicate divisions of Swedenborg’s longer numbered
sections that were added for the convenience of the reader by John
Faulkner Potts in his six-volume Swedenborg Concordance (London:
Swedenborg Society, 1888–1902).
William Ross Woofenden
Sharon, Massachusetts
ARCANA COELESTIA 3565
Genesis 39
CHARITY
4954. In the prefatory remarks to the preceding chapter, the
Lord’s words in Matthew 25, verses 31 to 33, concerning the
judgment upon the good and the evil were unfolded (see n.
4807–4810). There now come to be unfolded the words which
there follow in order, namely:
Then shall the king say to them on his right hand, Come, ye
blessed of my father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was
thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered me;
naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison,
and ye came unto me (Matt. 25:34–36).
4955. What these words involve in the internal sense will appear
from what follows. Be it known in the first place that the works
here enumerated are the very works of charity in their order. This
no one can see who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the
Word, that is, who does not know what is meant by giving the
hungry to eat, giving the thirsty to drink, gathering the stranger,
clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and coming unto those who
are in prison. He who thinks of these acts from the sense of the
letter only, infers that they mean good works in the external form,
and that there is nothing secret in them beyond this; and yet there
is something secret in each of them, which is Divine, because from
the Lord. But the secret is not at this day understood, because at
this day there are no doctrinals of charity; for ever since men have
separated charity from faith, these doctrinals have perished, and in
place of them the doctrinals of faith have been invented and
received, which do not at all teach what charity is and what the
neighbor. The doctrinals existing among the ancients taught all the
ARCANA COELESTIA 3566
genera and all the species of charity, and also who the neighbor is
toward whom charity is to be exercised, and how one is the
neighbor in a different degree and in a different respect from
another, and consequently how the exercise of charity varies in its
application toward different persons. They also grouped the
neighbor together into classes, and assigned them names, calling
some the poor, needy, miserable, afflicted; some the blind, lame,
halt, and also fatherless and widows; and others the hungry, thirsty,
strangers, naked, sick, bound, and so on; thus knowing what duty
they owed toward one and toward another. But as before said these
doctrinals perished, and with them the understanding of the Word,
insomuch that no one at this day knows otherwise than that by the
“poor,” the “widows,” and the “fatherless,” in the Word, none
other are meant than they who are so called; in like manner here by
the “hungry,” the “thirsty,” the “strangers,” the “naked,” the “sick,”
and those who are “in prison”; when yet by these charity is
described such as it is in its essence, and the exercise of it such as it
must be in its life.
4956. The essence of charity toward the neighbor is the affection
of good and truth, and the acknowledgment of self as being evil
and false; yea, the neighbor is good and truth itself, and to be
affected by these is to have charity. The opposite to the neighbor is
evil and falsity, which are held in aversion by one who has charity.
He therefore who has charity toward the neighbor is affected by
good and truth, because they are from the Lord, and holds in
aversion what is evil and what is false because these are from self;
and when he does this, he is in humiliation from self-
acknowledgment, and when he is in humiliation, he is in a state of
reception of good and truth from the Lord. These are the
characteristics of charity which in the internal sense are involved in
these words of the Lord: “I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered
me; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was
in prison, and ye came unto me.” That these words involve such
things, no one can know except from the internal sense. The
ancients, who had the doctrinals of charity, knew these things; but
at this day they appear so remote that everyone will wonder at its
being said that these things are within. Moreover, the angels who
ARCANA COELESTIA 3567
are with man perceive these words no otherwise, for by the
“hungry” they perceive those who from affection desire good; by
the “thirsty,” those who from affection desire truth; by a “stranger,”
those who are willing to be instructed; by the “naked,” those who
acknowledge that there is nothing of good and of truth in
themselves; by the “sick,” those who acknowledge that in
themselves there is nothing but evil; and by the “bound,” or those
who are “in prison,” those who acknowledge that in themselves
there is nothing but falsity. If these things are reduced into one
meaning, they signify what has been stated just above.
4957. From all this it is evident that there were Divine things
within everything the Lord said, although to those who are in
merely worldly things, and especially to those who are in bodily
things, his words appear to be such as any man might say. Nay,
they who are in bodily things will say of these and all other words
of the Lord, that they have not so much grace, and therefore not so
much weight, as the discourse and preaching of those of the present
age who speak with eloquence and learning; when yet their
discourse and preaching are like the husk and chaff in comparison
with the kernel and grain.
4958. That “to hunger” is from affection to desire good is
because “bread” in the internal sense is the good of love and of
charity, and “food” in general is good (n. 2165, 2177, 3478, 4211,
4217, 4735). That “to thirst” is from affection to desire truth is
because “wine” and also “water” denote the truth of faith (that it is
so with “wine,” see above n. 1071, 1798; and with “water,” n.
2702). That a “stranger” is one who is willing to be instructed, may
also be seen above (n. 1463, 4444). That the “naked” means one
who acknowledges that there is nothing of good or truth in himself,
the “sick” one who acknowledges that he is in evil, and the
“bound,” or he that is “in prison,” one who acknowledges that he is
in falsity is plain from the many passages in the Word in which
they are mentioned.
4959. The reason why the Lord says these things of himself is
that he is in those who are such, and therefore he also says:
ARCANA COELESTIA 3568
Verily I say unto you, Insofar as ye have done it to one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it to me (Matt. 25:40).
GENESIS 39
1. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar bought
him, Pharaoh’s chamberlain, prince of the guards, an Egyptian man, of
the hand of the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down thither.
2. And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and
he was in the house of his lord the Egyptian.
3. And his lord saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah
made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
4. And Joseph found grace in his eyes, and he ministered to him; and
he set him over his house, and all that he had he gave into his hand.
5. And it came to pass from the time that he set him over in his
house, and over all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian’s
house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of Jehovah was in all that he
had, in the house and in the field.
6. And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not
aught that was with him, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph
was beautiful in form, and beautiful in look.
7. And it came to pass after these words that his lord’s wife lifted up
her eyes to Joseph, and she said, Lie with me.
8. And he refused, and said unto his lord’s wife, Behold, my lord
knoweth not what is with me in the house, and all that he hath he hath
given into my hand.
9. He is not greater in this house than I; and he hath not withheld
from me anything but thee, because thou art his wife; and how shall I
do this great evil, and sin to God?
10. And it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he
hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, to be with her.
11. And it came to pass on a certain day when he went into the house
to do his work; and no man of the men of the house was there in the
house.
12. And she caught hold of him in his garment, saying, Lie with me;
and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
ARCANA COELESTIA 3569
13. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in
her hand, and was fled forth,
14. That she cried unto the men of her house, and spake unto them,
saying, See, he hath brought us a Hebrew man to mock us; he came to
me to lie with me, and I cried with a great voice;
15. And it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and
cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled, and got him out.
16. And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came to his
house.
17. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The
Hebrew servant whom thou hast brought unto us, came unto me to
mock me;
18. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left
his garment by me, and fled out.
19. And it came to pass when his lord heard the words of his wife,
which she spake unto him, saying, According to these words did thy
servant to me; that his anger was kindled.
20. And Joseph’s lord took him, and put him into the prison house,
the place where the king’s bound ones were bound; and he was there in
the prison house.
21. And Jehovah was with Joseph, and inclined mercy unto him, and
gave him grace in the eyes of the prince of the prison house.
22. And the prince of the prison house gave into Joseph’s hand all the
bound ones that were in the prison house; and whatsoever they did
there, he was the doer.
23. The prince of the prison house saw naught of anything that was
in his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and that which he did,
Jehovah made it to prosper.
THE CONTENTS
4960. In the internal sense here the subject treated of is the Lord,
how he made his internal man Divine. “Jacob” was the external
man, as described in the preceding chapters; “Joseph” is the
internal man, as described in this and the following chapters.