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Genesis 16

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1 Now Sarai the wife of Abram, had brought forth no children; having a handmaid, an Egyptian, named Agar,

2 She said to her husband: Behold, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: go in unto my handmaid, it may be I may have children of her at least. And when he agreed to her request,

3 She took Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, ten years after they first dwelt in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to her husband to wife.

4 And he went in to her. But she, perceiving that she was with child, despised her mistress.

5 And Sarai said to Abram: Thou dost unjustly with me: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she perceiving herself to be with child, despiseth me. The Lord judge between me and thee.

6 And Abram made answer, and said to her: Behold thy handmaid is in thy own hand, use her its it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai afflicted her, she ran away.

7 And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,

8 He said to her: Agar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she answered: I flee from the face of Sarai, my mistress.

9 And the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand.

10 And again he said: I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And again: Behold, said he, thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.

12 He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren.

13 And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the God who hast seen me. For she said: Verily here have I seen the hinder parts of him that seeth me.

14 Therefore she called that well, The well of him that liveth and seeth me. The same is between Cades and Bared.

15 And Agar brought forth a son to Abram: who called his name Ismael.

16 Abram was fourscore and six years old when Agar brought him forth Ismael.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1941

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1941. 'And it will not be numbered for multitude' means being multiplied immeasurably. This is clear without explanation. By these words is meant the truth which in this manner will increase immeasurably from good. Because with the Lord, who is the subject here in the internal sense, all things are Divine and Infinite, these matters as they apply to Him cannot be put into words. Consequently, so that some idea may be obtained of what the multiplication of truth from good entails, it must be spoken of as it applies to man. In his case, if governed by good, that is, by love and charity, seed from the Lord is made fruitful and is multiplied to such an extent that it cannot be numbered for multitude. That fruitfulness and multiplication is not very much during his life in the body, but in the next life it is unbelievably increased, for as long as he lives in the body it is seed Lying in ground of a bodily nature, among an entangled and dense mass of factual knowledge and bodily delights, and also cares and anxieties. But once these have been cast off, as happens when he passes over into the next life, the seed is set free from those things and starts to grow, just like the seed of a tree which, when it comes up out of the ground, grows into a small tree, then into a large tree, and is after that multiplied into a garden of trees. For all knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and the forms of delight and happiness that go with them, are in a similar way made fruitful and are multiplied, and are thereby for ever increasing. And they begin from the smallest of seeds, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 13:31, by reference to the grain of mustard seed. This becomes quite clear from the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom that angels possess, which during the time they were men had been to them beyond words.

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