{"id":12810,"date":"2018-01-23T19:49:29","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T00:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=12810"},"modified":"2018-01-23T19:49:29","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T00:49:29","slug":"small-and-great","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/bible-keywords\/small-and-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Small and Great"},"content":{"rendered":"

Used several times in the Bible<\/a>, the phrase \u201cboth small and great\u201d (or \u201cboth the small and the great\u201d) represents, according to Swedenborg<\/a>, various levels or degrees of involvement in a spiritual<\/a> state<\/a>. For instance, when the angels strike men with blindness, \u201cboth small and great,\u201d in Gen. 19:11, it means removing all concepts of truth<\/a>, both general ideas and specifics based on those ideas, from those who only love themselves<\/a>. When reward is promised to \u201cthose who fear Your name, small and great\u201d in Rev. 11:18, it means people who love things having to do with the Lord<\/a> in a lesser degree and in a greater degree.<\/p>\n

\n

Passages from Swedenborg<\/b><\/p>\n

Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n.\u00a02384<\/b><\/p>\n

2384. ‘Both small and great’ means in particular and in general. This is clear from the meaning of these words in the internal sense when used in reference to rational concepts and matters of doctrine deriving from these, meant by ‘the men who were at the door of the house’. The relationship of particular things to general things is similar to that of ‘small’ to ‘great’ – particulars being like those that are ‘small’, and generals made up of particulars like those that are ‘great’. What particular things are in comparison with general, and their inter-relationship, see 920, 1040, 1316.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n.\u00a0527<\/b><\/p>\n

527. “And those who fear Your name, small and great.” This symbolizes people who love things having to do with the Lord, in a lesser or greater degree.
\nTo fear the Lord’s name means, symbolically, to love things having to do with the Lord. To fear means, symbolically, to love, and the Lord’s name symbolizes everything by which He is worshiped (no. 81). People small and great symbolize people who fear the Lord in a lesser or greater degree.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 604<\/b><\/p>\n

604. 13:16 And it causes all, both\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great, rich and poor, free and slave. This symbolizes all the people in the Protestant Reformed church, of whatever condition, degree of education, or degree of intelligence.
\nThe\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great\u00a0here mean people of a lesser or greater degree of status, thus of whatever condition. The rich and poor mean people of more or less knowledge and learning (no. 206), thus of whatever degree of education. Free and slave mean people who acquire wisdom on their own or who gain it from others (no. 337), thus of whatever degree of intelligence.
\nSo then,\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great, rich and poor, free and slave, mean all the people in the Protestant Reformed church of whatever condition, degree of education, or degree of intelligence. This is the meaning in the spiritual sense.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 810<\/b><\/p>\n

810. “Both\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great!” This symbolizes those people who to a lesser or greater degree are moved by truths of faith or goods of love to worship the Lord.
\nIn the natural sense people\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great\u00a0mean people of a greater or lesser degree of status, but in the spiritual sense they are people of a greater or lesser degree of worship of the Lord, thus who are moved to worship the Lord more or less reverently or fully by truths of faith or goods of love. This is the symbolic meaning, because it follows the injunction to praise God, all His servants and those who fear Him, and it accords with the symbolic meaning of those words (no. 809). See also nos. 527, 604.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 832<\/b><\/p>\n

832. 19:18 “That you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great.” This symbolizes an assimilation of goods from the Lord through the truths in the Word and in doctrine drawn from it, of every level of meaning, degree or kind.
\nThe subject of no. 831 above was conjunction with the Lord through the Word, and now here it is the assimilation of goods from Him through the Word’s truths.<\/p>\n

To eat symbolically means to assimilate (no. 89). The flesh the people were to eat symbolizes goods in the Word and so in the church. And kings, commanders, mighty men, horses and those who sit on them, and people, free and slave, both\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great symbolize truths of every level of meaning, degree or kind. Kings symbolize people governed by the church’s truths from the Word, and abstractly the church’s truths from the Word themselves (nos. 20, 483). Commanders symbolize people who possess concepts of goodness and truth, and abstractly those concepts themselves (no. 337). Mighty men symbolize people who are learned in doctrine from the Word, and abstractly the learning gained from there itself (nos. 337). Horses symbolize an understanding of the Word, and those who sit on them symbolize people who are wise owing to their understanding of the Word, and abstractly the wisdom gained from there itself (nos. 298, 820). People free and slave symbolize people who acquire knowledge on their own and people who gain it from others (nos. 337, 604). People\u00a0small\u00a0and\u00a0great\u00a0symbolize people who do so to a lesser or greater degree (nos. 527, 810).
\nIt is apparent from this that the people’s being called to eat the flesh of those listed symbolizes an assimilation of goods from the Lord through the truths in the Word and in doctrine drawn from it, of every level of meaning, degree or kind.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 514<\/b><\/p>\n

[11] In David:<\/p>\n

“O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works! This sea great and wide in spaces, wherein are things creeping innumerable, animals both small and great; there go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein; all things wait for thee, that thou mayest give them their food in its season” (Psalm civ. 24-27).<\/p>\n

Here the sea, creeping things, animals, the leviathan or sea monster, and ships are not meant, but such things as are with the men of the church, for these wait upon Jehovah. The sea great and wide signifies the external or natural man, which receives goods and truths scientifically; great is said of the good therein, and broad, of the truth. By creeping things are signified living scientifics; by animals\u00a0great\u00a0and\u00a0small, the cognitions higher and lower, of good and truth of every kind, also in general and in particular, as shown in the preceding article (n. 513). Ships mean doctrinals. The leviathan or sea monster means all things of the natural man in the aggregate, who is said to sport in the sea, from the delight of knowing and thence of becoming wise. Because man is moved by these things with the desire to know and understand, it is therefore said, “All things wait for thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in its season.” To wait for signifies to desire, and food signifies knowledge (scientia) and intelligence; for man from himself does not desire these, but from those which he has from the Lord; these things therefore [are the source of desire] in man, although it appears as though man [desires] from himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Used several times in the Bible, the phrase \u201cboth small and great\u201d (or \u201cboth the small and the great\u201d) represents, according to Swedenborg, various levels or degrees of involvement in a spiritual state. For instance, when the angels strike men with blindness, \u201cboth small and great,\u201d in Gen. 19:11, it means removing all concepts of […]<\/p>\n

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