The Mythical Symbolism of Genesis

The first 11 chapters of Genesis are written in a style quite different from the rest of the Bible - one that is best described as "mythical". By myth many understand today a story that is false, but in the ancient world myths were based on a universal symbolism that described ever-eternal truths. The seven days of creation, the story of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Flood, the Tower of Babel...are all constructed in the form of a historical narrative, but actually describe in parable form how in ancient times an ancient race of people in the Middle East had the minds open to have direct communication with heaven...and how this was eventually lost.

In the late 18th century, in the visions that were received by Emanuel Swedenborg, he indeed saw that this was the case:

"That these things are meant becomes clear from the fact that everything put together as history from Genesis 1 down to Eber in Chapter 11 means something different from what appears in the letter, and from the consideration that the historical narratives there are purely made-up history customary among the most ancient people." (Arcana Coelestia, 1020)

"It has been stated already that there are four differing styles in the Word. The first is that of the Most Ancient Church, a style like that used in the first chapter of Genesis down to the present chapter [the 11th chapter]. The second is the historical, like that used subsequently in Moses and in the rest of the historical books. The third is the prophetical style, the fourth a style which lies half-way between the prophetical and ordinary speech." (Arcana Coelestia, 1139)

In the 18th century, Swedenborg is given to know that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are written in a mythical symbolic style, in a form of writing that was a common in a Church that preceded - and was superior to - what we now know as the Jewish religion. This "Most Ancient Church" as Swedenborg called it, is for the most part lost to our knowledge - but one of the surprising things that he states is some of its teaching are preserved in myths - specifically the Greek myths - albeit for the most part corrupted:

"The meaning of 'a horse' as the understanding spread from the Ancient Church to the wise in surrounding regions, and even into Greece. As a consequence of this, when describing the sun, which meant love, 2441, 2495, they placed the god of their wisdom and intelligence there in the sun, and gave him a chariot and four fiery horses. And when they described the god of the sea - the sea meaning knowledge in general, 28, 2120 - they gave horses to him also. And when they described the upsurge of knowledge from the understanding they portrayed it as a flying horse which with its hoof broke open a fountain where the virgins who were the branches of knowledge dwelt. And by the Trojan horse nothing else was meant than a device of their understanding for destroying city walls. Even today, when the understanding is being described, it is quite usual, drawing on the custom received from those people of old, to portray the understanding as a flying horse or Pegasus, and to portray learning as a fountain. Yet scarcely anyone knows that 'a horse' in the mystical sense means the understanding, and 'a fountain' truth, let alone that those images with a spiritual meaning spread to the gentiles from the Ancient Church." (Arcana Coelestia, 2762).

What the modern world calls "myth" or "pagan" or "heathen" - in many cases contain truths that are much more ancient than the Bible. Much of what Swedenborg wrote back then was later confirmed in the 19th century when archeaologists began uncovering ancient cuneiform tablets written in Sumerian and Akkadian - which in fact contained myths that mirrored the stories found in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Among these stories are Enuma Elish and The Epic of Gilgamesh. However the original myth has not been preserved in these tablets - they have been modified by religious priests of the ancient world, who sought to use religion to gain control over people. Even they found ancient king lists which declared that there were 10 kings before the coming of the Flood - just as there are 10 patriarchs that lived before the flood of Noah.

Perhaps I will blog a bit more about these ancient myths, or a bit more about paganism. Some of the stories are so detailed about a virgin birth of a son of God, who would die and rise to the heavens - that some have gone so far as to declare Jesus himself is a myth! What scholars don't realize is that the Judeo-Christian tradition does not have a monopoly on truth - there was an ancient form of religion that long preceded that tradition, one that was more universal and complete - which ultimately became corrupted in idolatry. But long before these myths were uncovered by archaeologists all of this was explained in the visions of Emaneul Swedenborg - imagine that.