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Genesis 20

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1 And Abraham departed thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned at Gerar.

2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art [but] a dead man, because of the woman that thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

4 But Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou also kill a righteous nation?

5 Did he not say to me, She is my sister? and she, even she said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and in the innocency of my hands have I done this.

6 And God said to him in a dream, I also knew that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, and I, too, have withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore have I not suffered thee to touch her.

7 And now, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and will pray for thee, that thou mayest live. And if thou do not restore [her], know that thou shalt certainly die, thou and all that is thine.

8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men were greatly afraid.

9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What hast thou done to us? And in what have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me, and on my kingdom, a great sin? Thou hast done to me deeds that ought not to be done.

10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What hast thou seen that thou hast done this?

11 And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me for my wife's sake.

12 But she is also truly my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

13 And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, Let this be thy kindness which thou shalt shew to me: at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and bondmen and bondwomen, and gave [them] to Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it is good in thine eyes.

16 And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver; behold, let that be to thee a covering of the eyes, in respect of all that are with thee, and with all; and she was reproved.

17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife and his handmaids, and they bore [children].

18 For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

   

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Silver

  

'Silver' signifies spiritual good or truth from a celestial origin. It also represents the truth of faith, or the truth acquired from self-hood, or proprium. 'Silver' means scientific truth. In Genesis 20:16, it signifies rational truth. 'A piece of silver' signifies a truth, or a knowledge of truth. In the internal sense of the Word, it signifies truth, but also falsity.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 1551; Exodus 16, 20; Psalms 6, 12, 12:6)


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Arcana Coelestia # 2516

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2516. 'Behold, you will die because of the woman' means that the doctrine of faith would be ruined if the rational were consulted as regards the contents of that doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of Abimelech, to whom 'you' refers here, as the doctrine of faith; from the meaning of 'dying' as being brought to ruin; and from the meaning of 'a sister', called 'the woman' here, as the rational, dealt with in 2508. Consequently the statement that Abimelech would die because of the woman means that the doctrine of faith would be brought to ruin if the rational were consulted.

[2] The reason no doctrine of faith from the rational exists is that the rational is immersed in the appearances of good and truth, and such appearances are not truths in themselves, as shown already in 2053, 2196, 2203, 2209. What is more, the rational bases itself on illusions, which are the product of external sensory impressions confirmed by facts which introduce haziness into those appearances of truth. The rational for the most part is merely human, as also becomes clear from its birth. This then is why nothing of the doctrine of faith can even be started, let alone be built up from it. Such doctrine must stem from the Lord's Divine itself and His Divine Human. This is the origin of it, so much so indeed that the Lord is doctrine itself. It is for this reason also that in the Word He is called the Word, the truth, the light, the way, and the door. Furthermore - and this is an arcanum - all doctrine is derived from Divine Good and Divine Truth and possesses the heavenly marriage within it. Doctrine which does not possess this within it is not the genuine doctrine of faith. Consequently every detail of the Word, the source of doctrine, holds the image of a marriage within it, see 683, 793, 801.

[3] It does indeed seem in the literal or external sense of the Word as though the doctrine of faith possessed much from the rational and indeed from the natural. But the reason for this is that the Word exists for the sake of man, for whom it has been adapted in this way. Nevertheless in itself the Word is spiritual from a celestial origin, that is, it is derived from Divine Truth joined to Divine Good. The fact that doctrine would be brought to ruin if the rational were consulted as regards the contents of that doctrine will be illustrated by examples in what follows.

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