From a recent lecture I gave...
Swedenborg identified three specific levels within the Scriptures: Literal, Spiritual, and Heavenly.
The Literal: From this type of plain reading stories like Noah’s flood, Balaam’s ass, and the city of New Jerusalem descending from heaven concern a real flood, a talking donkey, and an actual city. From this we get object lessons about moral behavior, inspiring poetry, and instructions about daily life from various parables. Like ancient Greek and Teutonic mythology, the literal meaning can be psychologically insightful. Such insights alone do not make Scripture holy.
The Spiritual: The spiritual core of the Word makes it holy. It wears the legends of old the way the soul wears the body. This inner meaning brings the Word to life and is why we can say that the Holy Scriptures have life in them. The Word’s spiritual meaning deals with the relationship between the Lord and humanity. Sometimes it addresses the relationship between the Lord and the spiritual community, like the antediluvians, the people represented by figures such as Abraham, or the nation of Israel.
Most of us have some knowledge about ancient myths that have remarkable similarity to the stories of the bible. Many of these predate their Scriptural form and vary in many important details. The Gilgamesh flood epic sounds much like Noah’s flood. Babylonian artifacts match description of Cherubim and Seraphim found in the biblical texts. This should not surprise us. The Word originated from YHVH, divinity itself, as an inexpressible. To reach the human intellect, it needed to take a form adapted to our understanding. Under the Lord’s guidance, spiritually perceptive story tellers folded hidden spiritual messages into longstanding legends. They did so without any awareness and that hidden meaning has only recently been revealed to mankind.
The Heavenly: Beyond the spiritual meaning lies an even deeper level of significance: the heavenly meaning. The heavenly meaning tells us about the Lord Himself, the inner workings of Providence, stages of His manifestation, the nature of His Humanity, His justice, and His mercy. Most times it is difficult to discern between the spiritual and heavenly. Heavenly meanings seem more accessible from prophetic forms of address and allegorical passages.
(My book by book is very similar to Tex's, with some minor differences.) I consider the Torah to be largely legendary i.e. embellished real events.
Swedenborg identified three specific levels within the Scriptures: Literal, Spiritual, and Heavenly.
The Literal: From this type of plain reading stories like Noah’s flood, Balaam’s ass, and the city of New Jerusalem descending from heaven concern a real flood, a talking donkey, and an actual city. From this we get object lessons about moral behavior, inspiring poetry, and instructions about daily life from various parables. Like ancient Greek and Teutonic mythology, the literal meaning can be psychologically insightful. Such insights alone do not make Scripture holy.
The Spiritual: The spiritual core of the Word makes it holy. It wears the legends of old the way the soul wears the body. This inner meaning brings the Word to life and is why we can say that the Holy Scriptures have life in them. The Word’s spiritual meaning deals with the relationship between the Lord and humanity. Sometimes it addresses the relationship between the Lord and the spiritual community, like the antediluvians, the people represented by figures such as Abraham, or the nation of Israel.
Most of us have some knowledge about ancient myths that have remarkable similarity to the stories of the bible. Many of these predate their Scriptural form and vary in many important details. The Gilgamesh flood epic sounds much like Noah’s flood. Babylonian artifacts match description of Cherubim and Seraphim found in the biblical texts. This should not surprise us. The Word originated from YHVH, divinity itself, as an inexpressible. To reach the human intellect, it needed to take a form adapted to our understanding. Under the Lord’s guidance, spiritually perceptive story tellers folded hidden spiritual messages into longstanding legends. They did so without any awareness and that hidden meaning has only recently been revealed to mankind.
The Heavenly: Beyond the spiritual meaning lies an even deeper level of significance: the heavenly meaning. The heavenly meaning tells us about the Lord Himself, the inner workings of Providence, stages of His manifestation, the nature of His Humanity, His justice, and His mercy. Most times it is difficult to discern between the spiritual and heavenly. Heavenly meanings seem more accessible from prophetic forms of address and allegorical passages.
(My book by book is very similar to Tex's, with some minor differences.) I consider the Torah to be largely legendary i.e. embellished real events.
