The meaning of “to seek” in the Bible is pretty straightforward, but there is a bit of nuance: Swedenborg says that in most cases “seek” or “look for” is connected with truth and knowledge, where “desire” is connected with love and affection. This makes sense; the idea of “seeking” is connected to sight, and sight corresponds to our intellect, our capacity to understand truth.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4719
4719. ‘And he said, I am looking for my brothers; tell me now, where they are pasturing [the flock]’ means knowledge of what the situation was and what their state was – in line with the meaning of these words in the proximate sense, which is, What the situation was with those teaching from faith, and his knowledge of their state. For ‘brothers’ means those who teach from faith, 4712; ‘looking for (or seeing) their peace’ means what the situation was with them, 4712, 4713; ‘where’ means the state, for in the internal sense everything denoting place means state, 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321; and ‘those pasturing [the flock]’ means those who teach, 343, 3767, 3768, 3772, 3783.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6770
‘And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses’ means that having discerned this matter false factual knowledge wished to destroy the truth which the law from God possessed.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6771
6771. ‘And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses means that having discerned this matter false factual knowledge wished to destroy the truth which the law from God possessed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hearing’ as discerning, dealt with in 5017; from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as factual knowledge which is opposed to the Church’s truths, and so is false, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6687; from the meaning of ‘killing’ as destroying, dealt with in 6767, so that ‘seeking to kill’ is wishing to destroy; and from the representation of ‘Moses’ as the law of God and God’s truth, dealt with in 6752, and so the truth which the law of God possessed. The expression ‘the truth which the law of God possessed’, and not simply ‘the law of God’, is used because the subject is still the development of the law of God within the Lord’s Human. From all this it is clear that ‘Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses’ means that having discerned this matter false factual knowledge wished to destroy the truth that the law of God possessed.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7021
7021. ‘For all the men seeking your soul are dead’ means the removal of falsities endeavouring to destroy the life of truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being dead’ as the fact that they have been removed, since those who are dead have also been removed; from the meaning of the Egyptians, to whom ‘the men’ refers here, as those who are under the influence of falsities, dealt with in 6692; and from the meaning of ‘those seeking the soul’ as those who endeavour to destroy life. And since spiritual life is the life of truth which belongs to faith and of good which belongs to charity, it is called the life of truth and good. From all this it is evident that ‘all the men seekingyour soul are dead’ means the removal of falsities endeavouring to destroy the life of truth and good.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8298
8298. ‘They sought a deep place like lead’ means that evils drew them down to lower levels like heavy objects in the world. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a deep place’ as lower levels and the hells in respect of evils, dealt with in 8279, so that ‘seeking a deep place’ is being drawn down by evils to those places. For their own evils cause the evil to fall, like heavy objects in the world, down towards the hells, see 8279. The expression ‘like lead’ is used because ‘lead’ means evil. But verse 5 above stated that ‘they went down into deep places of the sea like a stone’ because ‘a stone’ at that point means falsity. Both are heavy, both falsity and evil, and therefore they both fall downwards. Nevertheless evil is what creates heaviness in the spiritual sense and so is what falls as if by gravity. In itself falsity is not heavy; it is so only as a result of the evil that is present in it. For falsity by itself has no weight at all, but acquires it from evil, so that it falls downwards.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 429
429. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. (9:6) This symbolically means that those people caught up in the doctrine of faith alone wish the intellect to be closed and the will stopped up in matters of faith, and thus that they be without any spiritual light and life; but that still the Lord has provided that the intellect be not closed or the will stopped up, to keep the spiritual light and life in a person from being extinguished.
“In those days” symbolizes the last state of the church, when the doctrine of faith alone has been universally accepted. “Men will seek death” means, symbolically, that they wish the intellect to be closed in matters of faith. “And will not find it” means, symbolically, that the Lord has provided that this not happen. “They will desire to die” means, symbolically, that they also wish the will in them to be stopped up. “And death will flee from them” means, symbolically, that the Lord has provided that this not happen either. For in that case spiritual light and life would be extinguished, and the person would spiritually die. Seeking is said in application to the intellect, and desiring to the will, and death is said in application to both.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 550
550. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it.- That this signifies, that in such case they will desire to destroy the faculty of understanding truth, but that still they cannot, is evident from the signification of in those days, as denoting at that time, namely, when the man of the church from internal becomes external, or from rational becomes sensual; and from the signification ofseeking death, as denoting a desire to destroy the faculty of understanding truth, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of not finding it, as denoting not to be able to destroy. That by seeking death is here signified a desire to destroy the faculty of understanding truth, is clear from what precedes, because it follows as a consequence; for it was said, that the locusts should hurt the men only who had not the seal of God on their foreheads, and afterwards, that to them it was given that they should not kill them, but should torment them, which signifies that they should injure only the understanding of truth and the perception of good with those who are not in truths from good from the Lord, but that still they should not deprive them of the faculty of understanding truth, and perceiving good; see above (n. 546, 547). It therefore follows, that by the death which they seek, and desire, is signified the privation of the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good, and to destroy these would be to destroy that life which is properly human; for in such case a man would be no longer a man, but a beast, as said above; and hence it is evident, that the privation of that life is what is signified here by death. They desire to destroy the two faculties of that life which is truly human, because sensual men, from the persuasion concerning the falsities of evil in which they are, do not desire to understand truth and perceive good, for they are delighted with their own falsities of evil, and hence with thinking from the delight of falsity, and with willing from the delight of evil, wherefore they avert themselves from good and truth, because these are the opposites; some are sad because of them, some feel disgust at them, and some reject them with anger, every one according to the quantity and quality of the falsity of which he is persuaded. In a word, such a sensual man does not admit rational considerations from the understanding against the falsities of evil in which he is, and therefore he does not desire to understand and to become rational, although he has the power of becoming so, because he is a man. This, therefore, is the signification of “they shall seek death, and shall not find it.”