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Genesis 14

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1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel the king of Shinar, Arioch the king of El-lasar, Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and Tidal the king of nations,

2 [that] they made war with Bera the king of Sodom, and with Birsha the king of Gomorrah, Shinab the king of Admah, and Shemeber the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these were joined in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

4 Twelve years had they served Chedorlaomer; and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kirjathaim,

6 and the Horites on their mount Seir, to El-Paran, which is by the wilderness.

7 And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites that dwelt at Hazazon-Tamar.

8 And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, went out, and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim,

9 with Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and Tidal the king of nations, and Amraphel the king of Shinar, and Arioch the king of Ellasar -- four kings with the five.

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of pits of asphalt. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there: and they that remained fled to the mountain.

11 And they took all the property of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and departed.

12 And they took Lot and his property, Abram's brother's son, and departed. For he dwelt in Sodom.

13 And one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. And he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner. And these were Abram's allies.

14 And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive; and he led out his trained [servants], born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued [them] as far as Dan.

15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is to the left of Damascus.

16 And he brought back all the property, and brought again his brother Lot and his property, and the women also, and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after he had returned from smiting Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, into the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's valley.

18 And Melchisedec king of Salem brought out bread and wine. And he was priest of the Most High ùGod.

19 And he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abram of the Most High ùGod, possessor of heavens and earth.

20 And blessed be the Most High ùGod, who has delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him the tenth of all.

21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the souls, and take the property for thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, the Most High ùGod, possessor of heavens and earth,

23 if from a thread even to a sandal-thong, yes, if of all that is thine, I take [anything] ...; that thou mayest not say, I have made Abram rich;

24 save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men that went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1717

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1717. And he brought back all the substance. That this signifies that the interior man reduced all things in the external man into a conforming state, may be seen from the signification of “bringing back all the substance.” The “substance” here is the things which Chedorlaomer and the kings with him took from their enemies; as told in what goes before. By Chedorlaomer and the kings with him, are signified the goods and truths of the exterior man. The substance they took from their enemies was nothing else than their being deprived of the power of doing evil and thinking falsity, which was signified by the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, and by all the food which they took (treated of above, at verse 11).

[2] This matter is of such a nature that it cannot be set forth in few words; but what here follows may be sufficient to give some notion of it. He who is in the combats of temptations, and overcomes, acquires to himself more and more a power [potestas] over the evil spirits, or over the diabolical crew, till at last they do not dare to tempt at all. But as often as a victory is gained, so often does the Lord reduce into order the goods and truths from which the combat was waged; and so often are they thus purified; and so far as they are purified, so far are the celestial things of love insinuated into the exterior man, and a correspondence effected. These are the things that are signified by bringing back all the substance.

[3] He who supposes that the external man can be reduced into correspondence without combats of temptations is mistaken; for temptations are the means of dissipating evils and falsities, as also of introducing goods and truths, and of reducing the things which are of the external man into obedience, so that it may serve the interior or rational man, and through this the internal, that is, the Lord operating through the internal man. That these things are effected by temptations, no one can know but he who has been regenerated through temptations. But how this is done can scarcely be described even in the most general manner, since it is done without the man’s knowing whence and how; for it is the Lord’s Divine operation.

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