It seems rather circular to say that “good” in the Bible represents good, but in a general sense it’s true!
The case, according to Swedenborg, is this: The Lord is love itself given form and expression through wisdom itself, and that Divine Love and Divine Wisdom flow down into us, into the world and into the Bible in an unending stream with endless variety. Divine Love gives rise to our loves, our affections, our desires for good and the joy we can feel; Divine Wisdom gives rise to facts, knowledge, intelligence, understanding and human wisdom. And the more we can bring those two aspects of our lives into harmony, the more elevated we can become – which will in turn make us happier, more useful, and ultimately more angelic. And, of course, the more we turn away, the more truth becomes falsity and love becomes self-love. So this dance between the desire to be good and the understanding of truth is the driving force of human life, and almost everything in the Bible relates to it on a spiritual level.
When something is called “good” in the Bible, it is generally describing the highest, purest form of love possible in whatever spiritual state is being discussed. This is often summarized simply as “good” or as “charity” – which is a state of caring, or love to the neighbor.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2180
‘And took a young bull, tender and good’ means a celestial-natural which the rational took to itself in order that it might join itself to perception from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a young bull’ or ‘a son of an ox’ in the Word as natural good. And because the subject is the Lord’s Rational, it is called ‘tender’ from the celestial-spiritual, which is truth grounded in good, and ‘good’ from the celestial itself, which is good itself. Within the genuine rational there is both the affection for truth and the affection for good, but that which is first and foremost there is the affection for truth, as shown already in 2072. This explains why ‘tender’ is mentioned before ‘good’; but even so, as is quite usual in the Word, both are mentioned on account of the marriage of truth and good which is referred to above in 2173.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3049
‘And every good thing that was his master’s was in his hand’ means the goods and truths associated with those facts residing with the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of ‘every good thing that was his master’s’ as both good and truth, for in itself truth is good since it springs from good – truth being the form that good takes, that is, when good receives a form so that it can be perceived in the understanding it is called truth; and from the meaning of ‘the hand’ as power, dealt with in 878. Thus the goods and truths residing with the natural man are meant here. General facts are not in themselves good, nor do they have any life; but the affection for them is what causes them to be good and to have life, for in that case they exist for the sake of their use. No one’s affection is stirred by any fact or truth, except on account of the use it serves. The use is what makes it good, though the particular nature of the use determines the nature of the good.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3080
‘And the girl was very good looking’ means the beauty of the affection for truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a girl’ as affection that has innocence within it, dealt with in 3067. The reason ‘very good looking’ means beauty, in this case the beauty of the affection for truth since it is called ‘a girl’, is that all beauty comes from good in which innocence is present. When flowing in from the internal man into the external man good itself constitutes that which is beautiful. This is the source of all human beauty. This may be recognized also from the fact that it is not a person’s face but the affection shining out of it that stirs the feelings in another; and in the case of those who love what is good it is the affection for good seen in a person’s face that stirs them, which it does in the measure that innocence is present in the good which they love. Thus it is the spiritual within the natural that stirs their affections, not the natural devoid of the spiritual. In a similar way the feelings of those who love what is good are stirred by young children whom they see as beautiful in the measure that the innocence which goes with charity is present in the children’s faces, actions, and speech. It is goodness and charity that give form to and constitute beauty, see 553; and that is why ‘the girl was very good looking’ means the beauty of the affection for truth that has good within it.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5213
‘Fat and good’ means into which facts matters of faith and charity could be instilled. This is clear from the meaning of ‘fat’ when used in reference to known facts meant by ‘heads of grain’ (in that facts are able to receive the good of faith and can therefore have matters of faith instilled into them; for facts are vessels, and when ‘fatness’ is used in reference to them, the ability to receive such things as are matters of faith springing from charity is meant); and from the meaning of ‘good’ when used in reference to known facts meant by ‘heads of grain’ (in that facts are able to receive the good of charity and can therefore have matters of charity instilled into them). ‘Fat’ has regard to matters of faith and ‘good’ to matters of charity because these are their usual connotations throughout the Word. For whenever these two adjectives are applied to the same thing, one is connected with matters of faith, the other with matters of charity; and this is so on account of the marriage of truth and good present in every individual part of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712, 4137 (end), 5138. The fact that ‘fat’ means matters of faith and ‘good’ matters of charity is also evident from the previous parallel description regarding the cows, 5199, 5200.
[2] The facts which are able to have matters of faith and charity instilled into them are very many. They include all facts known to the Church which are meant in the good sense by ‘Egypt’, dealt with in 4749, 4844, 4964, 4965, consequently all facts which are truths about correspondences, representatives, meaningful signs, influx, order, intelligence and wisdom, affections. Indeed they include all truths, both visible and invisible ones, that are descriptive of the interior and the exterior aspects of the natural world, because such truths correspond to spiritual truths.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5949
‘For the good of all the land of Egypt is yours’ means that which in the natural mind is of primary importance to them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301, ‘the good’ of all that land meaning that which is of primary importance. These words are also used to mean that if they show no concern for instruments, only for essentials, they will have instruments in abundance. For example, if concern is shown for truths they will have in abundance factual knowledge, which is ‘the good of the land of Egypt’; and in a similar way, if concern is shown for good, they will have truths in abundance. Concern does indeed need to be shown for factual knowledge, and for truths also; but they must look to good as their end in view. If a person has his eye on good as that end, he catches sight of what comes out of it, that is, he has a perception of the things that originate in it – a perception that by no means exists unless good is kept as the end in view, that is, unless this end reigns without exception in every single thing.
[2] It is like body and soul. A person should be thoroughly concerned about his body, that it should be fed, clothed, and enjoy worldly pleasures. Yet his concern for all these things should be not for his body’s sake but for his soul’s; that is to say, his concern should be that his soul may act in a harmonious and proper fashion within a healthy body, so that the body as its organ may respond in perfect obedience to it. Thus the soul must be the end. Yet the soul must not be the final end, only an intermediate one. For a person must be concerned about his soul not for its own sake but for the services it must perform in both worlds. When a person has those services as his end in view he has the Lord as his end; for the Lord fits him for those services and oversees them.
[3] Since few know what having something as one’s end in view entails, this too must be stated. Having something as one’s end in view is loving it above all else; for what a person loves he has as his end. What a person has as his end is easily recognizable, since it reigns in every part of him. Thus it is present constantly, even when it seems to him that he is giving no thought at all to it; for it resides within and composes his inner life, and thus secretly governs every single part of him. Take for example someone who at heart honours his parents. That honour is present in every single deed done when in their presence and in what he thinks about them when absent from them. It is also noticeable in his gestures and speech. So also with someone who at heart fears and honours God. That fear and honour of Him is present with each of his thoughts, words, and actions because it is contained within them. It is there even when it does not seem to be present, as when he is occupied with affairs quite remote from such fear and honour of Him; for it reigns everywhere, thus in every individual aspect of him. That which reigns in a person is clearly discernible in the next life, for the sphere of his entire life that emanates from him originates in it.
[4] From this one may now see how one is to understand the idea that a person should always have God before his eyes. It does not mean that he has to be thinking about Him all the time but that a fear or love of Him should reign everywhere in him; then in every individual aspect of himself he has God before his eyes. When this is so, that person does not think, speak, or do what is contrary and unpleasing to Him; or if he does, then what reigns everywhere in him and lies concealed within him comes out and warns him.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6720
‘She saw that he was good’ means the discernment that it came by way of heaven. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seeing’ as a discernment, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400; and from the meaning of ‘good’ here, since it is used in reference to the law of God in the Lord, as coming by way of heaven. But as for the meaning here of ‘good’ as coming by way of heaven, this is an arcanum which none can know unless it is brought to light. When the Lord made His Human Divine, He did so by means of a transmission from the Divine through heaven. Heaven contributed nothing of itself to what was transmitted; but in order that the Divine itself might flow into the Human it passed through heaven. This transmission was the Divine Human before the Lord’s Coming; it was Jehovah Himself in the heavens, who was the Lord. The Divine which passed through heaven was Divine Truth or Divine Law, which Moses represented; and the Divine which passes through heaven is good. From this one may see why it is that ‘she saw that he (her son) was good’ means the discernment that it came by way of heaven.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6856
‘To a land good and broad’ means to heaven where the good of charity and the truth of faith are. This is clear from the meaning of ‘land’, in this instance the land of Canaan, as the Lord’s kingdom, and so heaven, dealt with in 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4447; from the meaning of ‘a good land’ as the presence of the good of charity there; and from the meaning of ‘a broad land’ as the presence of the truth of faith there. For the meaning of ‘broad’ as truth which is the truth of faith, see 3433, 3434, 4482.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10575
‘And He said, I will cause all My goodness to pass by your face’ means causing everything Divine which composes heaven and the Church to pass by the external separated from the internal as it existed with Moses and the nation he headed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘causing to pass by his face’ as doing so to the external separated from the internal as it existed with Moses and the nation he headed, for ‘your face’ means the outward form that worship, the Church, and the Word take, which has an inner substance, while ‘causing to pass’ means making it pass by this; and from the meaning of ‘all the goodness of Jehovah’ as everything Divine composing heaven and the Church. The implications of all this may be recognized from what has been stated and shown above regarding Moses and the nation he headed. There it has been shown that their interest lay in external things separated from what was internal, by which is meant that when engaged in worship they performed outwardly holy acts without thought of anything internal. And since an inner holiness was nevertheless present, though it did not enter into that nation’s outward holiness, it is evident what the meaning is of Jehovah’s declaration that He would cause all His goodness to pass by his face.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10619
‘And great in goodness and truth’ means that He is absolute Goodness and absolute Truth. This is clear from the consideration that the Divine is infinite, and nothing other can be said of the Infinite than that He is the Absolute, or Being itself, and so is absolute Goodness; and being absolute Goodness He is also absolute Truth since all truth is the complement of good. But this Absoluteness is expressed in the sense of the letter by the description ‘great in goodness and truth’, thus by words descriptive of something finite on account of man’s finite power of perception. That the Divine is absolute Goodness is clear in Matthew,
Jesus said to the young man, Why do you call Me good? None is good except one, God. Matt. 19:17.
By this one should understand that the Lord, and the Lord alone, is good, thus is absolute Goodness. And that He is absolute Truth is clear in John,
Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. John 14:6.
AE 730 [29] Tansley
“ I led you into a land of corn, that ye might eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof,” describes the state of man after temptations, which signifies introduction into the church in which there are truths of doctrine, by means of which there is an appropriation of the good of love and of charity, land signifying the church; land of corn denotes the church as to truths of doctrine, while to eat signifies to appropriate, fruit the good of love, and good the good of charity and of life.
AE 863 [15] (Tansley]
In Zechariah:
“How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty; corn maketh the young men to grow, and new wine the virgins” (ix. 17).
This treats also of the Lord. And by His goodness and beauty are meant Divine good and Divine truth. Corn makes the young men to grow, and new wine the virgins, signifies that the understanding of truth, and the affection for truth, are formed by means of good and truth from Him.
AE 1159 (Tansley)
In Isaiah:
“Attending attend unto me, eat ye good, that your soul may be delighted in fatness” (lv. 2).
To eat good signifies to appropriate good to themselves; thence by delighting in fatness is signified to be in a state of happiness and blessedness.
In Jeremiah:
“I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with good” (xxxi. 14).
Here also fatness signifies happiness and blessing from the good of love.