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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, toward the south*.

2 And Abram was· very ·heavy in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he went according·​·to his journeys from the south and even·​·to Bethel, even·​·to the place where his tent was in the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

4 to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.

5 And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flock and herd, and tents.

6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their acquisition was great, and they were· not ·able to dwell together.

7 And there was strife between the shepherds of the livestock of Abram and the shepherds of the livestock of Lot; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.

8 And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray, between me and thee, and between my shepherds and thy shepherds, for we men are brothers.

9 Is not all the land before thee? Separate, I pray, from me; if to the left, then I will go·​·to·​·the·​·right; and if to the right, then I will go·​·to·​·the·​·left.

10 And Lot lifted his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well watered, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt coming·​·into Zoar.

11 And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed from* the east; and they were separated, a man from his brother.

12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched· his ·tent even·​·to Sodom.

13 And the men of Sodom were evil and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly.

14 And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot was separated from with 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 which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, even·​·to eternity.

16 And I will set thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man is·​·able to count the dust of the earth, also shall thy seed be counted.

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

18 And Abram pitched· his ·tent, and came, and dwelt in the oak·​·groves of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar to Jehovah.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Dust

  

Dust, in Ezekiel 26:12, signifies the lowest things which are of the sensual principle of man. They can be either good or bad, depending on the context.

In Isaiah 40:12, the dust signifies exterior or natural truths and goods of heaven and the church.

In Genesis 2:7, the dust is good, and we see some interesting nuances:

First, there's this: 'To form the man, dust from the ground' is to form his external man, which had not previously been man... (Arcana Coelestia 94)

Here, this formation of our external body and mind is a precursor, setting the stage for God to "breathe into our nostrils".

In Arcana Coelestia 1610, we find this passage, where again, dust has a good signification:

'Dust of the earth' has regard to those things that are celestial, for, as shown already, 'the earth' means the celestial aspect of love; 'dust of the sea' has regard to those things that are spiritual, for 'the sea', as has also been shown, means the spiritual aspect of love; while 'as the stars of heaven' means both but in a higher degree. And because these things cannot be numbered they therefore became common expressions to describe growth and multiplication beyond measure.

Then, in Arcana Coelestia 3707, these ideas get pulled together:

The reason the dust of the earth symbolizes goodness is that the earth, [or land,] symbolizes the Lord’s kingdom and therefore goodness, as shown just above in §3705. The dust of that land, then, means goodness, but earthly goodness, since the land symbolizes what is lowest in the Lord’s kingdom....

But there are bad connotations, too. In Micah 7:14-17, licking dust symbolizes being only sensual - bodily and external, worldly, and selfish. It's much the same in Psalms 72:9, where "Barbarians will bow down before God, and His enemies lick the dust...". See Arcana Coelestia 249, 3413 for interesting explanations of this.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 1145)