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Genesis 25

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1 And Abraham took another wife named Keturah.

2 She became the mother of Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

3 And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

4 And from Midian came Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the offspring of Keturah.

5 Now Abraham gave all his property to Isaac;

6 But to the sons of his other women he gave offerings, and sent them away, while he was still living, into the east country.

7 Now the years of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five.

8 And Abraham came to his death, an old man, full of years; and he was put to rest with his people.

9 And Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, put him to rest in the hollow rock of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, near Mamre;

10 The same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth: there Abraham was put to rest with Sarah, his wife.

11 Now after the death of Abraham, the blessing of God was with Isaac, his son.

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian, the servant of Sarah:

13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their generations: Ishmael's first son was Nebaioth; then Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam

14 And Mishma and Dumah and Massa,

15 Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names in their towns and their tent-circles; twelve chiefs with their peoples.

17 And the years of Ishmael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven: and he came to his end, and was put to rest with his people.

18 And their country was from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt: they took their place to the east of all their brothers.

19 Now these are the generations of Abraham's son Isaac:

20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramaean, to be his wife.

21 Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.

22 And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this? So she went to put her question to the Lord.

23 And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and Two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger.

24 And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body.

25 And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau.

26 And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

27 And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

28 Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste: but Rebekah had more love for Jacob.

29 And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food;

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food: for this reason he was named Edom.

31 And Jacob said, First of all give me your birthright.

32 And Esau said, Truly, I am at the point of death: what profit is the birthright to me?

33 And Jacob said, First of all give me your oath; and he gave him his oath, handing over his birthright to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave him bread and soup; and he took food and drink and went away, caring little for his birthright.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 3263

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3263. And these are the births of Ishmael the son of Abraham. That this signifies the derivations of the spiritual church represented by Ishmael, is evident from the signification of “births,” as being the derivations of faith, thus of the church (see n. 1145, 1255, 1330); from the representation of Ishmael, as being those who are rational and who are of the Lord’s spiritual church (see n. 2078, 2691, 2699); and from the signification of the “sons of Abraham,” as being those who are in truth from the Lord; for by “sons” are signified truths (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623), and by Abraham is represented the Lord as to the Divine Human also (n. 3251), from whom the spiritual have truth and good (n. 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834).

[2] As regards the Lord’s spiritual church, be it known that it exists throughout the universal world; for it is not confined to those who have the Word and thence know the Lord and some truths of faith; but it exists also with those who have not the Word and therefore are altogether ignorant of the Lord and consequently know no truths of faith (for all the truths of faith regard the Lord); that is to say, this church exists among the Gentiles who are remote from the church; for there are many among them who from rational light know that there is one God; that He has created all things and preserves all things; and also that from Him is all good, consequently all truth; and that likeness to Him makes man blessed; and moreover they live according to their religion, in love to that God and in love toward the neighbor; and from the affection of good they do works of charity, and from the affection of truth they worship the Supreme Being. The Gentiles who are of this character are they who belong to the Lord’s spiritual church; and although while in this world they do not know the Lord, yet within themselves they have the worship and tacit acknowledgment of Him when they are in good, for in all good the Lord is present; and therefore in the other life they easily acknowledge Him, and receive the truths of faith in Him more readily than Christians do who are not in good in this way, as may be seen from what has been disclosed from experience concerning the state and lot in the other life of the nations and peoples out of the church (n. 2589-2604). The natural light which these have has in it what is spiritual, for without that which is spiritual from the Lord, such things cannot possibly be acknowledged.

[3] From this it may now be seen what “Ishmael” signifies, and thereby who in the representative sense are the “Ishmaelites,” namely those who are of the Lord’s spiritual church, who as to life are in simple good, and therefore as to doctrine are in natural truth. Such also are signified by the “Ishmaelites” in the following passage concerning Joseph:

Behold, a travelling company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing wax, resin, and stacte, going to carry it down to Egypt (Genesis 37:25); where the Ishmaelites represent those who are in simple good, such as is that in which are the well-disposed Gentiles; “camels bearing wax, resin, and stacte,” denote the interior goods of such people. The like is signified by the “Ishmaelites” in verse 28 of (Genesis 39:1) the same chapter, and in chapter 39, verse 1; and also in the book of Judges, where it is said that Gideon made a request:

That ye would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites (Judg. 8:24);

“golden earrings” signify the things of simple good (n. 3103).

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