True Christian Religion (Ager) n. 467

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467. "The garden of Eden" in the Word does not mean a garden, but intelligence, nor does "tree" mean any tree, but man. That "the garden of Eden" signifies intelligence and wisdom, can be seen from the following passages:

In thy wisdom and thine intelligence thou hast made to thyself wealth (Ezek. 28:4). Also in what follows:

Full of wisdom, thou has been in Eden the garden of God, every precious stone was thy covering (Ezek. 28:4, 12, 13). This is said of the prince and king of Tyre, of whom wisdom is predicated, because "Tyre" in the Word signifies the church in respect to knowledges of truth and good through which comes wisdom; "the precious stones" which were his covering, also signify knowledges of truth and good; for the prince and the king of Tyre were not in the garden of Eden. [2] And again in Ezekiel:

Asshur a cedar in Lebanon. The cedars in the garden of God have not hidden it. No tree in the garden of God was like unto it in its beauty. All the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied it (Ezek. 31:3, 8, 9). And again:

To whom art thou thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? (verse 18). This is said of Assyria, because in the Word it signifies rationality and intelligence therefrom. [3] In Isaiah:

Jehovah shall comfort Zion, He will turn her desert into Eden, and her wilderness into the garden of Jehovah (51:3). Here "Zion" means the church, and "Eden" and "the garden of Jehovah" mean wisdom and intelligence. In the Apocalypse:

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (2:7). In the midst of the street, and on either side of the river, there will be the tree of life (22:2). [4] From these passages it is clear that "the garden of Eden" in which Adam is said to have been placed, means intelligence and wisdom, because like thing are said of Tyre, Assyria, and Zion. Elsewhere in the Word "garden" signifies intelligence (as in Isaiah 58:11; 61:11; Jer. 31:12; Amos 9:14; Num. 24:6). This spiritual meaning of a garden derives its cause from representations in the spiritual world, where paradises are seen wherever the angels are in intelligence and wisdom; the very intelligence and wisdom which they possess from the Lord cause such things to be present about them; and this comes from correspondence, for all things that exist in the spiritual world are correspondences.


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