Page:Arcana Coelestia (Potts) vol 1.djvu/82

 Lord, however plainly they may be represented and shown to them.

. Verse 21. And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in the place thereof. By a "rib," which is a bone of the chest, is meant man's Own, in which there is but little vitality, and indeed an Own which is dear to him; by "flesh in the place of the rib," is meant an Own in which there is vitality; by a "deep sleep" is meant the state into which he was let so that he might seem to himself to have what is his own, which state resembles sleep, because while in it he knows not but that he lives, thinks, speaks, and acts, from himself. But when he begins to know that this is false, he is then roused as it were out of sleep, and becomes awake.

. The reason why what is man's own (and indeed an Own which is dear to him) is called a "rib," which is a bone of the chest, is that among the most ancient people the chest signified charity, because it contains both the heart and the lungs; and bones signified the viler things, because they possess a minimum of vitality; while flesh denoted such as had vitality. The ground of these significations is one of the deepest arcana known to the men of the Most Ancient Church, concerning which of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter.

. In the Word also, man's Own is signified by "bones," and indeed an Own vivified by the Lord, as in Isaiah:—

Again:—

In David:—

This is still more evident from Ezekiel, where he speaks of bones receiving flesh, and having spirit put into them:—

The hand of Jehovah set me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones; and He said to me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah; thus saith the Lord