According to Swedenborg, animals in the Bible generally refer to spiritual activity, the things we actually do on a spiritual level. “Cattle,” as typically used in the Bible, means a collection of domesticated animals owned by one person or group (including other animals along with cows). It makes sense, then, that cattle would represent the spiritual activities we “own” and have “domesticated.” What are the good things we like to see in ourselves and encourage? What true ideas do we keep in mind, ponder, and use in our decision-making? These can come in great varieties and from many different sources, just as a variety of animals could be part of “cattle,” but the key is that we own them, care for them and use them.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4106
- ‘The cattle he had purchased’ means the things acquired by these from other sources. This is clear from the meaning of ‘cattle’ as truths, dealt with immediately above, and from the meaning of ‘purchasing’ as things acquired from other sources. For ‘the cattle’ which had been purchased came from another source, even though they had been gathered with the aid of Laban’s flock.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 415
- ‘Father of cattle’ means good deriving from these, that is, from the holy things of love. This becomes clear from what has been shown already at verse 2 of this chapter, to the effect that ‘a shepherd of the flock’ means good that stems from charity. In the present verse, however, ‘father’ is used instead of shepherd, and ‘cattle’ instead of flock, with the words ‘and of cattle’, whose father he was, standing immediately after the word ‘tent’, from which it is clear that good stemming from the holiness of love is meant. And whether the dwelling-place, which was ‘acattle-fold’, or ‘father of those who dwelt in tent and cattle-folds’ is understood here, goods stemming from the celestial things of love are meant, as is also clear from various parts of the Word, as in Jeremiah,
I will gather the remnant of My flock from all lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their folds to give birth and multiply. Jer. 13:3.
In Ezekiel,
I will pasture them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel; there they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will pasture on the mountains of Israel. Ezek. 34:14.
Here ‘folds’ and ‘pastures’, referred to as ‘fat’, stand for goods that stem from love.
[2] In Isaiah,
He will give rain for your seed with which you will sow the ground; and bread, the produce of the ground, will be fat and full of it. On that day He will pasture your cattle in a broad grassland. Isa. 30:23.
Here ‘bread’ means that which is celestial, and ‘fat on which they will pasture their flocks’ goods stemming from that which is celestial. In Jeremiah,
Jehovah has redeemed Jacob; and they will come and sing on the height of Zion, and they will converge on the goodness of Jehovah, for the wheat, and the new wine, and the oil, for the young* of the flock and of the herd. And their life** will be like a watered garden. Jer 31:11, 12.
Here the Holy of Jehovah is described by ‘the wheat and oil’, and goods deriving from it by ‘the new wine and by the young’ of the flock and of the herd’, or cattle. In the same prophet,
Shepherds and their flocks of cattle will come against the daughter of Zion, they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will pasture, each in his own space. Jer. 6:3.
‘The daughter of Zion’ stands for the celestial Church, to which both ‘tents’ and ‘flocks of cattle’ have reference.
* lit. the sons
** lit. soul
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4391
- ‘And made booths for his cattle’ means a similar increase in good and truth at that time. This is clear from the meaning of ‘cattle’ as goods and truths in general, and from the meaning of ‘making booths’, which are tents, as something similar to what is meant by ‘building a house’, namely receiving an increase of good from truth.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3786
- ‘It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together’ means that goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine were not yet gathered into one. This is clear from the meaning of ‘time’ as state in general, dealt with in 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356; from the meaning of ‘being gathered together’ as being made into one; and from the meaning of ‘the cattle’ in general as goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine. The reason why ‘the cattle’ in general has this meaning is that in the religious observances of the representative Church, and in the Word, living creatures mean affections for what is good and for what is true, as becomes clear from what has been shown in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519. And since goods and truths constitute the Churches and their matters of doctrine, and these are the subject in the internal sense, it is evident that ‘not time for thecattle to be gathered together’ means that the goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine are not yet gathered into one.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4440
- ‘And his sons were with his cattle in the field’ means that his descendants dwelt in their own semblance of religion. This is clear from the meaning of ‘his sons’ as descendants; from the meaning of ‘castle’ as external truths, dealt with in 1435,* 4391; and from the meaning of ‘the field’ as the Church, dealt with in 2971, 3766. Consequently ‘his sons were with his cattle in the field’ means that they dwelt in their own semblance of religion; for the kind of Church that existed with them must be called a semblance of religion since it involves external worship devoid of internal.
* The primary meaning of the word translated cattle here in Genesis 34:5 is acquisition. See also 4487.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4105
- ‘And he brought away all his cattle and all his substance which he had gathered’ means the separation of truth and good acquired from what belonged to Laban. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bringing away’ as separating; from the meaning of ‘castle’ as truth; and from the meaning of ‘substance’ as good. The phrase ‘which he had gathered’ has regard to Laban and his flock by means of which they had been acquired. The reason why ‘cattle’ means truth and ‘substance’ good is that the word used in the original language for ‘acquisition’ also means smallcattle in general, by which truths are meant specifically when ‘flocks’ means goods. And ‘substance’ in this case means the resources from which those truths and goods are acquired. For when two things are mentioned in the Word which have almost the same meaning, the first has reference to truth but the second to good. They do so because of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of truth and good, present in every detail of the Word, see 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712.