According to Swedenborg, mothers in the Bible generally represent the Lord’s church on earth, or the church among those who know and follow the Lord. In some cases “mother” more specifically means the truth of the church, the true teachings the church has about the Lord and about life.
This makes sense if you think about it. Mothers are the means by which new people are created; the church (in a broad sense) is the means by which new ideas about the Lord and new good actions are created. And just as a mother is filled with love – for her children and, ideally, for her husband – so also is the church filled with love, both for its ideas and uses and also for the Lord.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5686
- ‘His brother, his mother’s son’ means the internal born from the natural as its mother. This is clear from the representation of Benjamin, to whom ‘brother’ and ‘mother’s son’ refer here, as the internal, dealt with in 5469. And since this is the intermediary it comes into being from the celestial of the spiritual, represented by ‘Joseph’, as its father, and from the natural as its mother; for it must have its beginning in both these if it is to serve as an intermediary. So this is what is meant by the internal born from the natural as its mother. Also because the celestial of the spiritual, which is ‘Joseph’, had come into being in a similar way from the natural as its mother, but from the Divine as its father, ‘Benjamin’ is therefore called, as he was in actual fact by birth, ‘his brother, his mother’s son’; and in what immediately follows he is also addressed as ‘son’. The name ‘brother’ is used by the Lord, who is meant here in the highest sense by ‘Joseph’, to refer to everyone who has any good of charity which he has received from the Lord. He is also referred to as ‘his mother’s son’, but in this case ‘mother’ is used to mean the Church.
Conjugial Love (Chadwick) n. 119
- It is evident from the following passages that the church is called mother.
Jehovah said, Strive with your mother; she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Hosea 2:2, 5.
You are your mother’s daughter, a mother who loathes her husband. Ezek. 16:45.
Where is the divorce document of your mother, whom you* have sent away? Isa. 50:1.
Your mother is like a vine planted close to water and fruitful. Ezek. 19:10.
These refer to the Jewish church.
Jesus stretching out his hand to the disciples said, My motherand my brothers are those who listen to God’s word and do it. Luke 8:21; Matt. 12:48, 49; Mark 3:33-35.
The Lord’s disciples mean the church.
His mother was standing by Jesus’ cross; and Jesus, seeing hismother and the disciple he loved standing by, says to hismother, Lady, here is your son; and he says to the disciple, Here is your mother. So from that hour the disciple took her as his own mother. John 19:25-27.
This passage means that the Lord did not recognise Mary as His mother, but the church; so He called her ‘Lady’ and the disciple’s mother. The reason why she was called the mother of this disciple, that is, of John, is that he represented the church as regards the good deeds of charity; these are the church in its real action. That too is the reason why he took her as his ownmother. It can be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED (5, 6, 790, 798, 879) that Peter represented truth and faith, James charity and John the works of charity; and the twelve disciples together represented the church in all respects (233, 790, 903, 915).
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4257
- ‘Lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the children’ means that it is about to perish. This becomes clear without explanation. Among the ancients who lived in an age of representatives and meaningful signs ‘smiting the motherwith the children* was a proverbial expression meaning the destruction of the Church and of everything that belonged to the Church either in general, or in particular with anyone who in himself is a Church. For ‘mother’ was used by them to mean the Church, 289, 2691, 2717, and ‘children’ or ‘sons’ truths which belonged to the Church, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373. Consequently ‘smiting the mother with the children’ means to perish completely, as a person too perishes completely when the Church and that which belongs to the Church perishes in him; that is, when the affection for truth, which strictly is the meaning of ‘mother’ and which constitutes the Church in a person, is destroyed.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3677
- ‘The brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother’ means the relationship through the mother of the good of truth, represented by ‘Jacob’, with the truth of good, represented by ‘Esau’. This is clear from the representation of ‘Rebekah’ as the Lord’s Divine Rational as regards Divine Truth, often dealt with already, from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the good of truth, or good which springs from truth in the natural, and from the representation of ‘Esau’ as the truth of good, or good from which truth springs in the natural, dealt with above in 3669. And seeing that all goods and truths which exist in the natural or external man are conceived and born from the rational or internal man, that is to say, from the good of the rational as the father, and from the truth of the rational as the mother, 3314, 3573, 3616, those words therefore mean a relationship through the mother of the good of truth, represented by ‘Jacob’, with the truth of good, represented by ‘Esau’. This is exactly how they are related to one another.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8900
- It has been shown just above in 8897 that the Lord is meant by ‘father’ and His kingdom by ‘mother’. But in case there is any lingering doubt that in the internal sense ‘mother’ is used to mean the Lord’s kingdom or heaven, let the following be added to what has been stated above. In the Word ‘mother’ is used to mean the Church, 289, 4257, 5581, which is also therefore called at one time the Lord’s bride, at another His wife. And since the Lord’s kingdom is the same as the Church, the only difference being that the Lord’s kingdom on earth is called the Church, His kingdom too is meant by ‘mother’. Consequently the sons or children born from that mother are truths, and they are called ‘the sons of the kingdom’, Matt. 13:38, see 3373. The Lord’s kingdom is also the native land of all who are there; and native land is meant by ‘mother’ in a natural sense, as the Church is in the spiritual sense.
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture (Dick) n. 67
[1] “Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother.” By father and mother a man understands the father and mother on earth, as also all who are in the place of father and mother; and by honouring, he understands holding them in honour and obeying them. But a spiritual angel by father understands the Lord, and by mother the Church; and by honouring he understands loving. A celestial angel, however, understands by father the Lord’s Divine Love, by mother His Divine Wisdom, and by honouring, doing good from Him.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2557
- ‘My father’s daughter but not my mother’s daughter’ means that the rational was conceived from celestial good as the father but not from spiritual truth as the mother. This becomes clear from the conception of the rational, that is to say, it comes into being through an influx of Divine celestial good into the affection for factual knowledge, dealt with in 1895, 1902, 1910. Two arcana are present here, the first being that man’s rational is conceived from Divine celestial good as the father, and that there is no other way in which any rational may come into being; and the second, that the rational is not conceived from spiritual truth as the mother. As regards the first arcanum – that man’s rational is conceived from Divine celestial good as the father, and that there is no other way in which any rational comes into being – this may become clear from what has been stated already in 1895, 1902, 1910, as well as from what anybody may know if he reflects.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 289
- ‘Wife’ is used to mean the Church, in the universal sense the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and on earth. This too has been shown already, while the fact that ‘mother’ as well has the same meaning follows from this. In the Word the Church is commonly called ‘mother’, as in Isaiah,
Where is your mother’s bill of divorce? Isa. 50:1.
In Jeremiah,
Your, mother has been utterly shamed, she who bore you is covered with shame. Jer. 50:12.
In Ezekiel,
[You are] your mother’s daughter who loathes her husband and her sons. Your mother is a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Ezek. 16:45.
Here ‘husband’ (vir) stands for the Lord and everything celestial, ‘sons for truths of faith, ‘Hittite’ for falsity, and ‘Amorite’ for evil. In the same prophet,
Your mother was like a vine in your likeness, planted beside the waters, fruitful, full of branches by reason of many waters. Ezek. 19:10.
Here ‘mother’ stands for the Ancient Church. The Most Ancient Church is pre-eminently called a ‘mother’ because it was the first Church, and the only one to be celestial. For that reason it was the Lord’s beloved more than any other.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3583
- ‘And your mother’s sons will bow down to you’ means over all other affections for truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sons’ also as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373, and from the meaning of ‘mother’ as the affection for spiritual truth – therefore as the Church, for the Church exists from truth and the affection for this, and is given the name ‘mother’, dealt with in 289, 2691, 2717.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3174
- ‘Her brother said, and her mother’ means doubt on the part of the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a brother’ as the good within the natural man, dealt with in 3160, and from the meaning of ‘a mother’ as the truth there, dealt with in 3167. Consequently ‘brother’ and ‘mother’ mean the natural man since this is composed of good and truth. The fact that doubt is meant is self-evident, that is to say, doubt whether the girl would stay a few days longer or whether she would go with the man there and then.
True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 306
306
In the spiritual meaning, honoring your father and your motherrefers to revering and loving God and the church. In this sense “father” means God – the Father of all – and “mother” means the church. In the heavens little children and angels know no other father or mother, since their rebirth in that world comes from the Lord through the church. This is why the Lord says, “Do not call anyone on earth your father, for your father is the One in the heavens” (Matthew 23:9). (These words apply to little children and angels in heaven, but not to little children and people on earth.) The Lord teaches something similar in the prayer that is shared by all Christian churches: “Our Father, who is in the heavens: your name must be kept holy.”
In the spiritual meaning, “mother” stands for the church because as mothers on earth nourish their children with physical food, so the church nourishes people with spiritual food. For this reason in various places in the Word the church is called “mother;” for example, in Hosea: “Bring charges against your mother. She is not my wife and I am not her husband” (Hosea 2:2, 5). In Isaiah: “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I put away?” (Isaiah 50:1; Ezekiel 16:45; 19:10). In the Gospels: “Jesus reached his hand toward the disciples and said, My mother and my brothers and sisters are those who hear the Word of God and do it” (Matthew 12:48, 49, 50; Mark 3:33, 34, 35; Luke 8:21; John 19:25, 26, 27).