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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, towards the south.

2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he went on his journeys from the south as far as Bethel; as far as the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai;

4 to the place of the altar that he had made there at the first. And there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.

5 And Lot also who went with Abram had flocks, and herds, and tents.

6 And the land could not support them, that they might dwell together, for their property was great; and they could not dwell together.

7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.

8 And Abram said to Lot, I pray thee let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren.

9 Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if to the left, then I will take the right; and if to the right, then I will take the left.

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan that it was thoroughly watered, before Jehovah had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; as the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as one goes to Zoar.

11 And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot went toward the east. And they separated the one from the other:

12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan; and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched tents as far as Sodom.

13 And the people of Sodom were wicked, and great sinners before Jehovah.

14 And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot had separated himself from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

15 for all the land that thou seest will I give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed also will be numbered.

17 Arise, walk through the land according to the length of it and according to the breadth of it; for I will give it to thee.

18 Then Abram moved [his] tents, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron. And he built there an altar to Jehovah.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1582

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1582. 'If you go to the left then I will go to the right, and if you go to the right I will go to the left' means separation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the right' and of 'the left'. Right and left are purely relative terms, for neither of them is a definite region or definite place, as becomes clear from the fact that east and west, and south and north, can be to the right or to the left depending on the direction towards which a person is looking. So too with regard to a place. Nor could 'to the right' or 'to the left' be used of the land of Canaan except as relative terms. Wherever the Lord is, that is the centre, and right and left are reckoned from there. Thus whether Abram, who represented the Lord, moved in this direction or in that, his representative character went with him. And the same was true of the land, whether Abram was in the land of Canaan or whether he was somewhere else. It is like the most distinguished person at table. The place where he sits is the most important, and the other places are to the right and left of it. 'Going to the right or to the left' therefore was a phrase expressing a right of choice and by which was meant separation.

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