Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 22:7
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AC 2801. Verse 7. Isaac said unto Abraham his father; and he said, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; and where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? "Isaac said unto Abraham his father; and he said, My father; and he said, Here am I, my soil," signifies a conference of the Lord from love - of the Divine Truth with the Divine Good; the Divine Truth is the "son," and the Divine Good is the "father;" "and he said, Behold the fire and the wood," signifies that love and righteousness are present; "where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" signifies where are they of the human race who are to be sanctified?

AC 2802. Isaac said unto Abraham his father; and he said, My father; and he said, Here am I my son. That this signifies the Lord conference from love - of the Divine Truth with the Divine Good-is evident from the signification of "Isaac the son," as being the Divine Truth; and from the signification of "Abraham the father," as being the Divine Good; which are treated of in what presently follows; and from the affection that is in these words, as being from love on both sides. Hence it is manifest that it is a conference of the Lord with His Father. That more arcana he hid in these words than can come to human perception, is evident from the fact that the words "he said" occur four times in this verse. It is usual in the Lord, when any new thing is begun, to say, "and he said" (n. 2061, 2238, 2260). The same is evident from the fact that the words are words of love; and when such come to the perception of the celestial angels who are in the inmost sense, they form for themselves from them most celestial ideas; for they form for themselves luminous ideas from the affections in the Word, whereas the spiritual angels do so from the significations of the words and of the things (n. 2157, 2275); and thus from these words, in which there are four distinct periods and affections of love, the celestial angels form such things as can in no wise come down to human apprehension, nor can be put into words; and this with ineffable abundance and variety. Hence we can see what the quality of the Word is in its internal sense, even where it appears simple in the letter, as in this verse.

AC 2803. That the Divine Truth is the "son," and the Divine Good the "father," is evident from the signification of a "son," as being truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2633); and of a "father," as being good; and also from the conception and birth of truth, which is from good. Truth cannot be and come forth (existere) from any other source than good, as has been shown many times. That the "son" here is the Divine Truth, sad the "father" the Divine Good, is because the union of the Divine Essence with the Human, and of the Human Essence with the Divine, is the Divine marriage of Good with Truth, and of Truth with Good, from which comes the heavenly marriage; for in Jehovah or the Lord there is nothing but what is infinite; and because infinite, it cannot be apprehended by any idea, except that it is the being and the coming forth (esse et existere) of all good and truth, or is Good itself and Truth itself. Good itself is the "Father," and Truth itself is the "Son." But because as before said there is a Divine marriage of Good and Truth, and of Truth and Good, the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:--

And again in the same Evangelist:--

And again:--

And again:--

[2] From this may be seen the nature of the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord; namely, that it is mutual sad alternate, or reciprocal; which union is that which is called the Divine Marriage, from which descends the heavenly marriage, which is the Lord‘s kingdom itself in the heavens - thus spoken of in John:--

And again:--

That this heavenly marriage is that of good and truth, and of truth and good, may be seen above (n. 2508, 2618, 2728, 2729).

[3] And because the Divine Good cannot be and come forth without the Divine Truth, nor the Divine Truth without the Divine Good, but the one in the other mutually and reciprocally, it is therefore manifest that the Divine Marriage was from eternity; that is, the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:--

But the Divine Human which was born from eternity was also born in time; and what was born in time, and glorified, is the same. Hence it is that the Lord so often said that He was going to the Father who sent Him; that is, that He was returning to the Father. And in John:--

AC 2804. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. That this signifies that love and righteousness were present, is evident from the signification of "fire," as being love (n. 934); and from the signification of "wood for a burnt-offering," as being the merit of righteousness (n. 2784).

AC 2805. Where is the lamb (pecus) for a burnt-offering? That this signifies, Where are they from the human race who are to be sanctified? is evident from the representation of sacrifices, especially of burn-offerings. That burnt-offerings and sacrifices were representative of internal worship, may be seen above (n. 922, 923); that they were made from the flock and from the herd; that when made from the flock, they consisted of lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, rains, he-goats, and when from the herd, of oxen, bullocks, or calves and that these signified various kinds of celestial and spiritual things (n. 922, 1823, 2180); also that by means of them sanctifications were to be effected (n. 2776). It may be seen from this, that by Isaac’s inquiry, "Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" is signified, Where are they from the human race who are to be sanctified? which is more plainly manifest from what follows, that is, from the answer of Abraham his father, "God will see for Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering" (verse 8); by which is signified that the Divine Human will provide those who are to be sanctified. This is also evident from the fact that a rain was afterwards seen behind them, held by the horns in a thicket, which was offered for a burnt-offering (verse 13), by which are signified those of the human race who are of the Lord‘s spiritual church. And the same is evident from what follows in (verses 14 to 17).

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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