A “house” is essentially a container – for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests (think of the term “houses of worship.”) In the Bible, acording to Swedenborg, a “house” is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a “house” can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church, in each case a collective being containing many ideas.
The other nuance to the word “house” is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven mostly by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So “house” tends to represent the things we want, the things we care about – which are ultimately the things that define us anyway.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 710
‘Enter, you and all your house, into the ark’ means things that constitute the will. This is clear from what has just been stated. In the previous chapter, which dealt with things of the understanding, verse 18 reads differently, namely ‘You shall enter into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you’. That ‘a house’ means the will and what constitutes the will is clear from various places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,
Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives together. Jer. 6:11.
Here both ‘houses’ and ‘fields and wives’ refers to things of the will. In the same prophet,
Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jer. 29:5, 28.
Here ‘building and dwelling in houses’ has to do with the will, ‘planting gardens’ with the understanding. The same applies in other places. And frequently ‘the house of Jehovah’ stands for the Church where love is the chief thing. ‘The house of Judah’ stands for the celestial Church, ‘the house of Israel’ for the spiritual Church, because ‘a house’ means the Church. Consequently the mind of the member of the Church, which has within it things of the will and those of the understanding, that is, of charity and of faith, is meant by ‘a house’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1488
‘And his house’ means which He had gathered together. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘house’ here as facts that are gathered together. Gathering facts together and by means of them raising and building up the external man is not unlike building ahouse, and therefore similar ideas are meant in various parts of the Word by ‘building’, and by ‘building houses’, as in Isaiah,
I am creating new heavens and a new earth. They will build housesand inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit. Isa. 65:17, 21, 22.
Here ‘houses’ means where there are wisdom and intelligence, thus where there are the cognitions of good and truth, for the Lord’s kingdom is the subject, that is, ‘new heavens and a new earth’. In Jeremiah,
Build houses and inhabit them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jer. 29:5.
Here the meaning is similar. In David,
Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah, who delights greatly in His commandments! Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness stands for ever. Ps. 112:1, 3.
Here ‘wealth and riches’ stands for the wealth and riches of wisdom and intelligence, thus for cognitions, which are ‘in his house’, that is, residing with him.
[2] ‘House’ is also used in the contrary sense: in Zephaniah,
I will visit those who say in their hearts, Jehovah has not done good nor has He done evil; and their wealth will be for plunder, and theirhouses for desolation, and they will build [rouses and not inhabit them, and they will plant vineyards and not drink [their] wine. Zeph 1:12, 13.
In Haggai,
Go up into the mountain and bring wood and build the house. You looked for much, and behold it was little; and when you brought it home* I blew it away. For what reason? said Jehovah. Because of My house which has been left derelict while you run each to his ownhouse. Therefore above you the heavens have withheld their dew. Hagg. 1:8-10.
‘Houses’ stands for facts through which, by means of reasoning, falsities
come. In Isaiah,
The vineyard of Jehovah is the house of Israel.** Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field until there is no room and you dwell alone in the midst of the land! Will not many houses be a desolation, large and good ones, without inhabitant? Isa. 5:7-9.
Here also ‘houses’ stands for facts through which come falsities. In Amos,
Behold, Jehovah commands, and He will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts. Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough there with oxen? that you turn judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11, 12.
Here similarly ‘houses’ stands for falsities and derivative evils, ‘horses’ for reasoning, ‘judgement’ for truths which are ‘turned into poison’, and ‘the fruits of righteousness’ for goods which are ‘turned into wormwood’.
[3] Thus in various parts of the Word ‘houses’ stands for human minds in which intelligence and wisdom ought to be present. Here ‘the house of Pharaoh’ stands for facts by means of which comes intelligence and by means of this wisdom. Similar things were also meant by ‘the house which Solomon built for Pharaoh’s daughter’, 1 Kings 7:8 and following verses. Because ‘a house’ stands for minds that have intelligence and wisdom within them, and that have within them affections that belong to the will, therefore the word ‘house’ in the Word has a wide range of meaning, but what it means in a specific instance becomes clear from the things to which it has reference. In addition man himself is called ‘a house’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2048
That ‘he who is born in the houses means celestial people, and ‘he who is the purchase of silver’ spiritual people, and so those who are inside the Church, is clear from the meaning of ‘him born in thehouse’ as those inside the house. In the Word ‘a house’ means that which is celestial because this is inmost. Consequently ‘the house of God’ means in the universal sense the Lord’s kingdom, in a less universal sense the Church, and in a particular sense the individual himself in whom the Lord’s kingdom or Church exists. When a person is called ‘a house’ it means the celestial side of faith with him, but when he is called ‘a temple’ it means the truth of faith with him. So ‘he who is born in the house’ here means celestial people. That ‘the purchase of silver’ or one bought with silver means spiritual people however is clear from the meaning of ‘silver’ as truth, and so the spiritual side of faith, dealt with in Volume One, in 1551.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3128
‘And told [those of] her mother’s house all about these things’ means towards whatever natural good enlightenment was able to reach. This is clear from the meaning of ‘mother’s house’ as the good of the external man, that is, natural good. For ‘a house’ means good, see 2233, 2234,* 2559; and man’s external or natural is received from the mother, but his internal from the father, 1815. In the Word the good that exists with a person is compared to ‘a house’, and for that reason one who is governed by good is called ‘the House of God’. But internal good is called one’s ‘father’s house’, while good of an identical degree is spoken of as one’s ‘brethren’s house’, and external good, which is the same as natural good, is referred to as one’s ‘mother’s house’. Furthermore all good and truth is born in this fashion, that is to say, by means of the influx of internal good as the father into external good as the mother.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3142
‘And I have swept the house’ means all things had been prepared and filled with goods. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sweeping’ as preparing and being filled, dealt with immediately below, and from the meaning of ‘a house’ as good, dealt with in 2233, 2234, 2559. And a person himself, from the good which governs him, is called a house, 3128. The reason why ‘sweeping’ means preparing and being filled is that nothing else is asked of anyone except to ‘sweep his house’, that is, to reject evil desires and resulting false persuasions. If he does this he is filled with all forms of good, for good from the Lord is constantly flowing in. It flows into ‘the house’, that is, into the person who has been cleansed of such things as hinder influx, that is, which turn away, or pervert, or stifle inflowing good. Hence the proverbial expression used by the ancients about sweeping or cleansing the house, and also about sweeping and preparing the way. ‘Sweeping the house’ was used to mean cleansing oneself of evils and thereby preparing oneself for goods to enter, while ‘sweeping the way’ was used to mean preparing oneself for the reception of truths; for ‘a house’ meant good, 3128, and ‘the way’ truth, 627, 2333.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3720
‘This is nothing other than the house of God’ means the Lord’s kingdom as it exists in the ultimate degree of order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the house of God’. In the Word ‘the house of God’ is referred to in many places, and in the external sense, that is, literally, it means a building where holy worship takes place. But in the internal sense it means the Church, in the more universal sense it means heaven, and in the most universal the Lord’s kingdom. In the highest sense however it means the Lord Himself as regards the Divine Human. But in the Word sometimes the expression ‘House of God’ is used and sometimes ‘Temple’. The two are similar in meaning, the difference being that the expression ‘House of God’ is used when the subject is good but ‘temple’ when the subject is truth. From this it is evident that ‘the House of God’ means the Lord’s celestial Church, and in the more universal sense the heaven of celestial angels, in the most universal the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good; whereas ‘the Temple’ means the Lord’s spiritual Church, and in the more universal sense the heaven of spiritual angels, in the most universal the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and in the highest the Lord as regards Divine Truth, see 2048. The reason why ‘the House of God’ means that which is celestial and the dwelling-place of good, while ‘the Temple’ means that which is spiritual and the dwelling-place of truth, is that ‘a house’ in the Word means good, see 710, 2233, 2559, 3128, 3652, and among the most ancient people used to be built of pieces of wood for the reason that ‘wood’ meant good, 643, 1110, 2784, 2812, whereas ‘the Temple’ means truth because it was built of stones – ‘stones’ meaning truths, see 643, 1296, 1298.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4982
‘On all that he had in the house and in the field’ means in life and in doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the house’ as good, dealt with in 2048, 2233, 2234, 2559, 3128, 3652, 3720, and as ‘the house’ means good it also means life, since all good is the good of life; and from the meaning of ‘the field’ as the Church’s truth, dealt with in 368, 3508, 3766, 4440, 4443, and as this means the Church’s truth it also means doctrine, for all truth is the truth of doctrine. House and field are also referred to several times in other parts of the Word, and when in such places the celestial man is the subject, ‘house’ means celestial good and ‘field’ spiritual good. In this case celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good is the good of charity towards the neighbour. But when the spiritual man is the subject ‘house’ means the celestial as it exists with him, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour, while ‘field’ means the spiritual as it exists with him, which is the truth of faith. ‘The house’ and ‘the field’ have the same meanings in Matthew,
Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his clothing. Matt. 24:17, 18.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5023
‘Until his lord came to his house’ means so that it might communicate with natural good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘lord’ as unspiritual natural good, dealt with in 4973, 4988. ‘House’ in the internal sense is the natural mind, for the natural mind, like the rational mind also, resembles a house. ‘The husband’ in it is good, ‘the wife’ truth; ‘the daughters and sons’ are affections for good and truth, as well as being forms of good and truth which are begotten from that aforesaid good and truth as their parents, while ‘the women servants and the men servants’ are the desires and the known facts that minister to and support them. Here therefore ‘until his lord came to his house’ means when natural good comes to its own dwelling-place, where also there is the truth that is joined to it, though in this case it is falsity which convinces the good that it is truth. For unspiritual natural good is easily convinced that falsity is truth and that truth is falsity. The expression ‘his lord’ is used because the unspiritual natural looks on the spiritual as something servile, 5013.
[2] The fact that a person’s natural mind, like his rational mind, is called ‘a house’ is evident from the following places: In Luke,
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person he passes through dry places seeking rest; and if he does not find any he says, I will return to my house out of which I came. And if when he comes he finds it swept and decorated, he goes away and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Luke 11:24-26.
‘House’ here stands for the natural mind, which is called a house that is ’empty and swept’* when there are no forms of good and truth in it meant by ‘husband and wife’, no affections for good and truth meant by ‘daughters and sons’, nor anything such as supports these meant by ‘women servants and men servants’. The person himself is ‘thehouse’ because the rational mind together with the natural mind constitutes a human being. Without the inhabitants just mentioned – that is, without the forms of good and truth, and without the affections for these, and the service rendered by those affections – a person is not a human being but a beast.
[3] The human mind is again meant by ‘a house’ in the same gospel,
Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house. Luke 11:17.
And in Mark,
If a kingdom is divided against itself, this kingdom cannot stand. Also, if a house is divided against itself, this house cannot stand. No one can go into the house and plunder the vessels of a strong man unless he first binds the strong man, and then he may plunder hishouse. Mark 3:14, 25, 27.
‘Kingdom’ means truth, 1672, 2547, 4691, and ‘house’ good, 2233, 2234, 3720, 4982, ‘house’ meaning good on account of its greater importance.
[4] In Luke,
If the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming he would certainly have been awake and would not have permitted hishouse to be broken into. Luke 12:39.
In the same gospel,
From now on there will be in one house five divided, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother. Luke 12:52, 53.
This refers to the spiritual conflicts which members of the Church enter into once the internal or spiritual contents of the Word have been opened up to them. ‘House’ stands for the actual person or his mind, while the ‘father’, ‘mother’, ‘son’, and ‘daughter’ in it are forms of good and truth together with affections for these, or in the contrary sense evils and falsities together with affections for these, which are the source of conflict and the things to be grappled with in such conflict.
[5] The Lord commanded His disciples, in Luke,
Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house! And if indeed a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest on it; but if not, it shall return to you. But remain in the same house; eat and drink what they have there. Do not pass on from house to house. Luke 10:5-7.
This represented the requirement for them to remain with genuine good, that is, with the good of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, and not to pass on to any other kind.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5311
‘You shall be over my house’ means that the natural mind shall be made subordinate and submissive to it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘house’ as the mind, dealt with in 3538, 4973, 5023, in this case the natural mind since the expression ‘my house’ is used by Pharaoh, who represents the natural. The need for it to be made subordinate and submissive [to the celestial of the spiritual] is meant by ‘shall be over’ it. The person who is set over someone’s house is in practice the master there, and all who are in it are made subordinate and submissive to him, though the actual master, so far as appearances go, retains that name and status.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5353
‘And all my father’s house’ means the removal of hereditary evils. This is clear from the meaning of ‘father’s house’ here as hereditary evils. In the internal sense ‘house’ means a person, more particularly his mind, either his rational mind or his natural mind. But specifically the will part there is meant, consequently good or evil since either of these can exist as an attribute of the will, see 710, 2233, 2234, 3128, 4973, 4982, 5023. This being so, ‘father’s house’ here means hereditary evils.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6690
‘That He made them houses’ means that it – true factual knowledge in the natural – was arranged into a heavenly pattern. This is clear from the meaning of ‘house’ as the natural mind, dealt with in 4973, 5023, thus the things that compose the natural mind. But because what is said here refers to the midwives, those things are true factual knowledge in the natural, 6687. ‘Making them houses’ therefore means arranging that knowledge into order, and it is arranged into order when arranged into a heavenly pattern. It is not at all easy to see that these things are meant by ‘making them houses’ unless one knows the situation with true factual knowledge that belongs to the natural mind. Something must therefore be said briefly about this. Known facts in the natural are arranged into continuous series, one series tying in with another, so that they all hang together according to the varying relationships and close associations they have with one another. They are not unlike families and their generations; for one is born from another, and in that manner they are brought into existence. This explains why things of the mind, which are forms of good and truth, were spoken of by the ancients as ‘houses’, the form of good that ruled there being called the father, the truth linked to it the mother, and the derivations from them the sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and so on. But the way in which true factual knowledge in the natural is arranged varies from person to person, since the pattern it assumes is imposed on it by the ruling love. That love is at the centre and arranges each fact into position around it. It positions nearest to itself the facts most compatible with it, and the rest are arranged according to their degrees of compatibility. And in this way factual knowledge is given a pattern. If heavenly love rules, then the Lord arranges them all into a heavenly pattern, a pattern like that assumed by heaven itself, thus the pattern assumed by the good of love itself. Such is the pattern into which truths are arranged; and once arranged into it they act in unison with good. At this point when the one is stimulated by the Lord, so is the other; that is to say, when items of belief are stimulated, so are charitable desires, and vice versa. This kind of arrangement is what is meant by the statement that God made the midwives houses.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7353
‘And they will rise up and come into your house, and into your bedchamber’ means that they will fill the mind, all the way through to its more internal parts. This is clear from the meaning of ‘house’ as a person’s mind, dealt with in 3538, 4973, 5023; and from the meaning of ‘bedchamber’ as the more internal parts of the mind. The reason why ‘bedchamber’ means the more internal parts of the mind is that it is a more internal part of the house. The more internal parts are meant by ‘chambers’, and those that are even more internal by ‘bedchambers’, in the following places: In Isaiah,
Go away, O people, enter your bedchambers, and shut your door behind you. Hide yourself, so to speak, for a little moment, until the anger passes over. Isa. 26:20.
In Ezekiel,
He said to me, Have you not seen, son of man, what the elders of the house* of Israel do in the dark, each in the chambers of his own idol? Ezek. 8:12.
In Moses,
Outside the sword will bereave and out of the chambers terror. Deut. 31:25.
In the second Book of Kings,
Elisha the prophet, who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bed chamber. 2 Kings 6:12.
The ancients compared a person’s mind to a house, and the inward parts of a person to chambers. The human mind is indeed like a house, for the things it contains are virtually as distinct from one another as the chambers within a house. Those at the centre are the inmost parts of the mind, while those to the sides are the more external parts there. The ancients compared the latter to forecourts, and the parts which were outside but adjoining parts more internal they compared to porticos.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7448
‘And extremely noxious flying insects came to the house of Pharaoh, and to the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt’ means that malevolent falsities burst out from every side among them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘noxious flying insects’ as malevolent falsities, dealt with above in 7441; and from the meaning of ‘the house of Pharaoh, the houses of his servants, and all the land’ as every single thing in the natural, dealt with in 7396, 7441, 7442, at this point from every single one or from every side, since the bursting out of those falsities is meant. The proximate meaning of the coming of the noxious flying insects to the house is that falsities entered where evils were present and joined themselves to the evils. But when falsities have been joined to evils the evils burst out by means of the falsities. So it is that ‘the noxious flying insects came to the house of Pharaoh, and to the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt’ means that malevolent falsities burst out, and indeed from every side.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7929
‘And not allow the destroyer to come to your houses’ means that falsity and evil from the hells will not at all come near the will. This is clear from the meaning of ‘will not allow’ as will not come near; from the meaning of ‘the destroyer’ as hell, dealt with in 7879, thus falsity and evil from the hells, since the hells derive their existence from falsity and evil; and from the meaning of ‘houses’ as aspects of the will, dealt with in 710, 7848. For ‘house’ means a person, therefore also his mind, since a person is a person by virtue of his understanding of truth and his desire for good, which are abilities belonging to the mind. And since a person is a person primarily by virtue of that part of the mind called the will, the will is therefore also meant by ‘house’. But which of these is meant is evident from the train of thought in the internal sense.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9150
‘And it is taken away by theft out of the man’s house’ means the loss of them from there. This is clear from the meaning of ‘theft’ as taking away the kinds of things that compose a person’s spiritual life, and therefore taking away the truths and factual knowledge meant by ‘silver and vessels’, 9149; and from the meaning of ‘house’ as the place where something is stored. So it is that ‘house’ has various meanings, such as the Church, what is good there, also a person, as well as both levels of the human mind, the natural level and the rational; but at this point it means the memory, because truths and factual knowledge reside in it as in their own house. Regarding ‘house’ and its various meanings, see 3128, 3142, 3538, 3652, 3720, 3900, 4973, 4982, 5023, 5640, 6690, 7353, 7848, 7929.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9154
‘The master of the house shall be brought to God’ means enquiring of good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being brought to God’ as being brought forward for enquiry to be made, dealt with below in 9160; and from the meaning of ‘the master of the house’ as good which is enquired of. The reason why ‘the master of the house’ means good is that the subject is truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from the memory, meant by ‘the silver and the vessels which were delivered to someone for safe keeping but were taken away by theft’, 9149, 9150. Since those truths and factual knowledge belong to good and exist in good ‘the master of thehouse’, to whom the objects belong and with whom they reside, means good. Good is called ‘the master’ because truths and factual knowledge belong to good as their master, and good is also called ‘the house’ because truths and factual knowledge exist within good as their house.