A container can be filled with something bad against the wishes of its owner, or it can be filled with something good in accord with the wishes of its owner. In both cases, Swedenborg says that when something is “filled” in the Bible it means being endowed with a spiritual quality. When the material in question is good – water, food, people who represent good things, etc. – it means getting the desire for good and the understanding of truth from the Lord. When the material is bad – dust, flies, emotions like despair or terror, etc. – it means being overwhelmed and enslaved by the desire for evil and the false, twisted logic that supports it.
There are a number of references in the Bible to “filling the hand,” which has a specific meaning and is dealt with separately.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7648
‘And your houses will be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians’ means that falsity will reign in every single thing in the natural from the inner part of it to the outermost. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being filled’ as reigning, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘Pharaoh’s houses, the houses of all his servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians’ as every single thing in the natural, dealt with in 7753, 7355, at this point from the inner part of it to the outermost, in keeping with the explanation above in 7645. The reason why ‘being filled’ means reigning is that when a person’s mind is filled with falsities arising from evils, filled so completely that leading others astray by means of falsities and doing evil give him delight, he is said to be ruled by this delight; and the actual affection that controls him is called his reigning affection. That which fills a person’s entire mind, that is, both his thought and his will, is said to reign everywhere; what a person loves above all else and has as his end in view reigns in that universal way. It is present within every smallest part of his will and thought. What it is exactly that reigns everywhere may be recognized from the person’s pleasure when he attains his ends, or his disappointment when he does not. That which reigns everywhere in a person shapes the contours of his spirit; the face of his spirit is in exact accord with it. If evil and falsity reign, his spirit is clothed with a devilish form; but if goodness and truth reign the form is angelic. For regarded in itself the spirit is affection embodied in a form; and the dominant affection is the essential form itself, while all its other affections adapt themselves to this.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8293
‘My soul will be filled’ means delight. This is clear without explanation. The words ‘my soul will be filled’ are used because the chief delight of those in hell lies in doing harm to others, in some cases for no reason other than the delight gained in doing it, in other cases with a view to turning them into slaves, whom they then wish to treat cruelly. The fact that this kind of delight exists in the next life with people who lead a life of evil can be believed by scarcely anyone, including even those people themselves. For as long as they are in the world they are constrained by fears – of legal punishments, as well as of loss of position, wealth, reputation, and also life. These fears cause them at that time to refrain from evil deeds in their outward behaviour, as a result of which they imagine that they are not the kind of people they really are. But when they are released from having to think about possible loss of life, wealth, position, and reputation, as happens in the next life, and they are left to their own evil, the delight to do harm, which has lain hidden in the will and has emerged as often as they could remove those fears, reveals itself. That delight now constitutes their life, a life that is the life of hell.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5487
‘To fill their vessels with grain’ means that factual knowledge was endowed with good produced from truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘filling’, because this was done freely, as being endowed with; from the meaning of ‘vessels’ as factual knowledge, dealt with in 3068, 3079; and from the meaning of ‘grain’ as good produced from truth, which is the good of truth, dealt with in 5295.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6649
‘And the land was filled with them’ means even to the point at which the Church was complete. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being filled’ as that which is complete; and from the meaning of ‘the land’ as the Church, dealt with in 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577.
Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 7442
And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the noisome fly, and also the land whereon they are. That this signifies that the falsities of malevolence will take possession of all things of the natural mind, is evident from the signification of “filling,” as being to take possession of; from the signification of “the house of the Egyptians,” as being the interiors of the natural mind (of which above, n. 7407); from the signification of “the noisome fly,” as being falsities of malevolence (of which just above, n. 7441); and from the signification of “the land of Egypt,” as being the natural mind in general (see n. 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301).
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5733
‘Fill the men’s pouches with food’ means into the natural, bringing the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘pouch’ as the exterior natural, dealt with in 5497, and from the meaning of ‘food’ as the good of truth, dealt with in 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5487, 5582, 5588, 5655. From these meanings it is evident that ‘he commanded the one who was over his house, Fill the men’s pouches with food’ means an influx from itself into the natural, bringing the good of truth.