Spiritual Meaning of Right hand

Spiritual Meaning of

Right hand

That the right hand of Jehovah denotes omnipotence, is because by hand in the Word is signified power, and thus by right hand eminent power; consequently when the hand or right hand is said of Jehovah, it denotes Divine power, or omnipotence. Hand and right hand denote power, (AC 878, 4931-4937, 6292, 6947, 7188, 7189, 7518); and when predicated of Jehovah, omnipotence, (AC 3387, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8069, 8153).

[2] That the right hand of Jehovah denotes Divine power, or omnipotence, is also evident from the following passages in the Word:--

Jesus said, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming upon the clouds of heaven (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62).

From henceforth shall the Son of man be sitting at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69).

The saying of Jehovah unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet; thou art a priest forever after the manner of Melchizedek, the Lord at thy right hand hath smitten kings in the day of anger (Ps. 110:1, 4, 5; Matt. 22:44).

He who does not know that the right hand, when said of Jehovah, signifies omnipotence, cannot receive any other idea from these words of the Lord, than that the Lord will sit at the right hand of His Father, and have dominion like one who sits at the right hand of a king on earth. But the internal sense teaches what is meant in these passages by sitting at the right hand, namely, the Divine omnipotence; consequently it is also said, to sit at the right hand of power, and at the right hand of the power of God.

[3] That it is the Lord who has omnipotence, is manifest; for this is said of the Lord, and by the Lord in David is meant the Lord in respect to Divine truth, and also by the Son of man in the Evangelists; for Divine truth is that which has omnipotence from Divine good. Divine truth has omnipotence, (AC 6948, 8200); in general power belongs to truth from good, (AC 3091, 3563, 4231, 6344, 6493); and consequently hand is predicated of truth, (AC 3091, 4931); and the Son of man denotes the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, (AC 2159, 2803, 2813, 3704).

[4] Divine power or omnipotence is also signified by the right hand in the following passages in David:--

Now know I that Jehovah saveth His anointed; they will answer Him in heaven through the powers of the salvation of His right hand (Ps. 20:6).

O Jehovah, look from the heavens, and see, and visit this vine; and the shoot which Thy right hand hath planted, upon the son Thou hadst made strong for Thyself (Ps. 80:14, 15, 17).

Thou hast an arm with might; strong is Thy hand, exalted shall be Thy right hand (Ps. 89:13).

My strength and song is Jah, He is become my salvation; the voice of shouting and of salvation is in the tents of the righteous, the right hand of Jehovah hath done valiantly, the right hand of Jehovah is exalted, the right hand of Jehovah hath done valiantly (Ps. 118:14-16).

[5] In these passages the right hand of Jehovah denotes omnipotence; and in the supreme sense the Lord as to Divine truth. This is more evident elsewhere in David:--

Let Thy hand, O Jehovah, be for the man of Thy right hand, for the son of man Thou hast made strong for Thyself (Ps. 80:17);

where the man of the right hand of Jehovah, and the son of man, denote the Lord as to Divine truth. In the same:--

Thou hast driven out the nations with Thy hand, not by their sword have they possessed the land, and their arm hath not saved them, but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy faces (Ps. 44:2, 3);

where the light of the faces of Jehovah denotes Divine truth from Divine good; so also the right hand, and the arm. And in Isaiah:--

God hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength (Isa. 62:8);

here also the right hand of God, and the arm of His strength denote the Lord as to Divine truth; for Jehovah or the Lord does not swear by any other than Himself (AC 2842), thus by the Divine truth, for this is Himself, because from Himself.

[6] Hence it is that in the Word throughout the Lord is called not only the right hand and arm of Jehovah, but also the strength by which He breaks in pieces enemies, and likewise the hammer, as in (Jer. 51:20, 21). Moreover the Lord came into the world, and there became Divine truth, and afterward Divine good from which is Divine truth, in order that He might shut up all evils and falsities in the hells, and gather together goods and truths into the heavens, and there dispose them into Divine order. From all this it is now evident that by the right hand of Jehovah in the Word is signified the omnipotence which the Divine has by means of Divine truth. That the right hand denotes eminent power, derives its origin from the fact that they who in the Grand Man or heaven have relation to the shoulders, the arms, and the hands, are they who are powerful from the truth which is from good; that is, from the faith which is from love (AC 4931-4937, 7518).

from AC 8281

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Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.