Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/244

148 There saw we the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, of the Nephilim; and we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, and so were we in their eyes" (Numb. xiii. 23). That they are called Rephaim appears also in Moses:—"The Emim dwelt before in the land of Moab, a people great and many, and tall, as the Anakim; they were also accounted Rephaim (giants) as the Anakim; and the Moabites called them Emim" (Deut. ii. 10, 11). The Nephilim are no more mentioned, but the Rephaim, who are described by the Prophets as of such a character as has been stated. Thus in Isaiah:—"Hell beneath was moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it hath stirred up the Rephaim for thee" (xiv. 9). The subject referred to is the hell where such have their abode. In the same:—"The dead shall not live; the Rephaim shall not rise; for that thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish" (xxvi. 14). Here also their hell is spoken of, from which they shall no more rise. . . . And in David:—"Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the Rephaim arise and praise Thee?" (Ps, lxxxviii. 10). This likewise is said of their hell, and signifies that they cannot rise and infest the sphere of the world of spirits with the most direful poison of their persuasions. But it has been provided by the Lord that the human race should no longer be imbued with such dreadful conceits and persuasions. Those that lived before the flood were of such a nature and genius that they could be imbued therewith, for a reason hitherto known to no one, but of which by the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter. (A. C. n. 581.)

"And it repented Jehovah that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" (Gen. vi. 6). That Jehovah repented signifies mercy; that He grieved at heart has a similar signification. To repent has relation to wisdom: to grieve at heart has relation to love.

That Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth signifies mercy, and that He grieved at heart also signifies mercy, is evident from the consideration that Jehovah never repents, because He foresees all and every thing from eternity; and when He made man, that is created him anew, and perfected him till he became celestial, He also foresaw that in process of time he would become such as he now was, and therefore He could not repent. This plainly appears in Samuel. Samuel said, "The Strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent; for He is not a man that He should repent" (1 Sam. xv. 29). And in Moses:—"God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should