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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 # 1589

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1589. Like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar. That this signifies memory-knowledges from the affections of good, is evident from the signification of “Egypt” (see n. 1164, 1165; in a good sense, n. 1462) as being memory-knowledge; and from the signification of “Zoar,” as being the affection of good. Zoar was a city not far from Sodom, whither also Lot fled when rescued by the angels from the burning of Sodom (described, Genesis 19:20, 22, 30). Zoar is also named in other places (Genesis 14:2, 8 (Genesis 14:8); Deuteronomy 34:3; Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34), where also it signifies affection and as it signifies the affection of good, it also, in the opposite sense, as is common, signifies the affection of evil.

[2] There are three faculties which constitute the external man, namely, the rational, that of memory-knowledge, and the external sensuous. The rational is interior, the faculty of memory-knowledge is exterior, and this sensuous is outermost. It is the rational by means of which the internal man is conjoined with the external; and such as is the rational, such is the conjunction. The external sensuous, here, is the sight and the hearing. But in itself the rational is nothing, unless affection flows into it and makes it active, and causes it to live. It follows from this that the rational is such as is the affection. When the affection of good flows in, it becomes in the rational the affection of truth. The contrary is the case when the affection of evil flows in. As the faculty of memory-knowledge applies itself to the rational, and is an instrumentality for it, it follows that the affection inflows into this also, and disposes it; for nothing but affection ever lives in the external man. The reason of this is that the affection of good comes down from the celestial, that is, from celestial love, which vivifies everything into which it flows; it even vivifies the affections of evil, or cupidities.

[3] For the good of love from the Lord continually flows in through the internal man into the external; but the man who is in the affection of evil, or in cupidity, perverts the good; but still there remains life from it. This may be perceived by comparison with the objects which receive the rays of the sun. There are some that receive these rays most beautifully, and turn them into most beautiful colors, as do the diamond, the ruby, the jacinth, the sapphire, and other precious stones; but there are others which do not so receive them, but turn them into most disagreeable colors. The same may also be seen from the different genius of different men. There are those who receive goods from another with all affection; and there are those who turn them into evils. This shows what is that memory-knowledge from the affections of good that is signified by “the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar,” when the rational is “like the garden of Jehovah.”

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