Arcana Coelestia # 3671
3671. To thee and to thy seed with thee. That this signifies with the good and its derivative truth, is evident from the representation of Jacob, who is here meant by “thee,” as being the good of truth, or the good which is from truth (concerning which see above); and from the signification of “seed,” as being the good and truth of faith (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 2848, 3373). “With thee” signifies that it was adjoined to the good of truth which is “Jacob.” With good and truth the case is the same as with seeds and the ground; interior good is as the seed which brings forth, but only in good ground; exterior good and truth are as the ground in which the seed brings forth; this seed (that is, interior good and truth) cannot otherwise be rooted. For this reason man’s rational is first of all regenerated, for therein are seeds, and afterwards the natural, in order that it may serve as ground (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3493, 3576, 3620, 3623); and since the natural is as ground, good and truth are capable of being made fruitful and multiplying in the rational, which could not be the case unless they had ground somewhere, in which they might take root like seed. From this comparison it may be seen as in a mirror how the case is with regeneration and with many of its arcana.
[2] To understand good and truth and to will them is of the rational; the perceptions of good and truth therefrom are as seed; but to know them and bring them into act is of the natural. The very memory-knowledges and works are like ground, and when man is affected with the memory-knowledges which confirm good and truth; and especially when he feels a delight in bringing them into act, the seeds are therein, and grow as in their ground. By this means good is made fruitful, and truth is multiplied, and they continually ascend from this ground into the rational, and perfect it. The case is otherwise when man understands good and truth, and also inwardly perceives some inclination of will thereto, but yet does not love to know them, and still less to do them. In this case good cannot be made fruitful nor truth be multiplied, in the rational.
Genesis 15
1
After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."
2
Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3
Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."
4
Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."
5
Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."
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He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
7
He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."
8
He said, "Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?"
9
He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10
He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.
11
The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12
When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
13
He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
14
I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,
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but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.
16
In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."
17
It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
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In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
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the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
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the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
