And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Explanation:
Sleeping in the Bible, according to Swedenborg, represents a state of spiritual obscurity, in which we are distanced from the Lord and are not aware of his love and wisdom. The Lord put the people of the Most Ancient Church (Adam) into such a state of obscurity (sleep) because they wanted to live from themselves. And in a way, humanity has been asleep ever since, unaware that our thoughts, our feelings, our very life and love flow into us from the Lord, and are not our own.
But the Lord would let Adam carry on. He took a part of him that was least alive – meaning the least receptive of the Lord, since the Lord is life – and prepared to make a new person that would give Adam the life he wanted. According to Swedenborg, this symbolizes that the people of the Most Ancient Church would be cut off from direct communication with the Lord and with heaven, but would instead – through the nearly lifeless bit of humanity represented by the rib – be able to experience life as their own.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 147
- Verse 21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he fell asleep; and He took one of his ribs, and He closed up the flesh in its place.
'A rib', which is a breast bone, is used to mean man's proprium when it contains very little life, a proprium indeed that he cherishes. 'The flesh in place of the rib' is used to mean the proprium when it does contain some life. 'A deep sleep' is used to mean that state into which he was brought so that he might seem to himself to have a proprium. This state resembles sleep because a person in that state is conscious only of living, thinking, speaking, and acting from himself. But when he starts to realize that this is false, he is aroused from sleep so to speak and wakes up.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 148
- The reason man's proprium - a proprium indeed that he cherishes - is called a rib, which is a breast bone, is that among the most ancient people the breast meant charity, for it has the heart and lungs within it, and bones meant those things that were less valuable because they contain only a very small amount of life. 'Flesh' however meant that which did possess some life. The reason why they had this meaning is a very deep arcanum known to the most ancient people, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on.
Verse 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Verse 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Verse 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Verse 18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Verse 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Verse 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
Verse 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Verse 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Verse 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Verse 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Verse 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 3
Verse 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Verse 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Verse 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Verse 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Verse 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Verse 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Verse 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.