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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.

2 Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.

3 And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;

4 To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.

5 And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;

6 So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.

7 And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.

8 Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.

9 Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.

10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.

11 So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.

12 Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.

13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.

14 And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:

15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.

16 And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.

17 Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.

18 And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1577

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1577. Let there be no contention, I pray, between me and thee. That this signifies that there ought to be no disagreement between the two, is evident from what has already been said. The arcana relating to the agreement or union of the internal man with the external are more than can ever be told. With no man have the internal man and the external ever been united; nor could they be united, nor can they be, but with the Lord only, for which cause also He came into the world. With men who have been regenerated, it appears as if they were united; but these belong to the Lord; for the things which agree are the Lord’s, but those which disagree are man’s.

[2] There are two things in the internal man, namely, the celestial and the spiritual, which two constitute a one when the spiritual is from the celestial; or what is the same, there are two things in the internal man, good and truth; these two constitute a one when the truth is from good; or what is also the same, there are two things in the internal man, love and faith; these two constitute a one when the faith is from love; or what is again the same, there are in the internal man two things, the will and the understanding; and these two constitute a one when the understanding is from the will. This may be apprehended still more clearly by considering the sun, from which is light. If in the light from the sun there are both heat and illuminating power, as in the springtime, all things are thereby made to vegetate and to live; but if there is not heat from the sun in the light, as in the time of winter, then all things become torpid and die.

[3] From all this it is evident what constitutes the internal man; and what constitutes the external thence appears. In the external man all is natural; for the external man itself is the same as the natural man. The internal man is said to be united to the external when the celestial spiritual of the internal man flows into the natural of the external, and makes them act as a one. As a consequence of this the natural also becomes celestial and spiritual, but a lower celestial and spiritual; or what is the same, the external man becomes celestial and spiritual, but a more external celestial and spiritual.

[4] The internal man and the external are altogether distinct, because celestial and spiritual things are what affect the internal man, but natural things are what affect the external. But though distinct, they are still united, namely, when the celestial spiritual of the internal man flows into the natural of the external, and disposes it as its own. In the Lord alone the internal man was united to the external; this is not the case in any other man, except so far as the Lord has united and does unite them. Love and charity only, or good, is what unites; and there is never any love and charity, that is, any good, except from the Lord. Such is the union that is intended in these words of Abram: “Let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen.”

[5] It is said, “Between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen,” for the case is thus: as there are two things in the internal man, namely, the celestial and the spiritual, which as before said make a one, so also are there in the external man, its celestial being called natural good, and its spiritual natural truth. “Let there be no contention between me and thee,” has reference to good, meaning that the good of the internal man should not disagree with the good of the external man; and “Let there be no contention between my herdmen and thy herdmen,” has reference to truth, meaning that the truth of the internal man should not disagree with the truth of the external man.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.