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Genesis 18

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1 And Jehovah appeared to him in the oak·​·groves of Mamre, and he was sitting at* the entrance of the tent, as the day was becoming·​·warm.

2 And he lifted·​·up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men standing over him; and he saw, and ran to meet them from the entrance of the tent, and bowed· himself ·down toward the earth.

3 And he said, My Lord, if, I pray, I have·​·found grace in Thine eyes, pass not, I pray, from over Thy servant.

4 Let, I pray, a·​·little water be taken, and bathe ye your feet, and recline under the tree.

5 And I will take a morsel of bread, and sustain ye your heart; afterwards you may pass·​·on; for therefore have you passed·​·through to your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast spoken.

6 And Abraham hastened toward the tent to Sarah, and said, Hasten, knead three seahs of meal, of flour, and make cakes.

7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a son of the herd, tender and good, and gave it to the lad, and he hastened to make it.

8 And he took butter and milk, and the son of the herd that he had made, and put before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

10 And He said, Returning I will return to thee about this time of life, and behold, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard at* the entrance of the tent, and it was behind him*.

11 And Abraham and Sarah were old, coming into days; the way as of women had stopped being for Sarah.

12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am worn·​·down shall I have pleasure, and my lord being·​·old?

13 And Jehovah said to Abraham, What is this, that Sarah laughed, saying, Yea, shall I truly give·​·birth, and I am·​·old?

14 Shall any thing be· too ·wonderful for Jehovah? At the appointed·​·time I will return to thee, according·​·to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

15 And Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was fearful. And He said, No, for thou didst laugh.

16 And the men rose·​·up thence, and gazed upon the faces of Sodom; and Abraham walked with them, to send them on.

17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide* from Abraham that which I do?

18 And Abraham being shall be for a nation, great and numerous, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.

19 For I know him, because·​·of which he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment; so·​·that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken concerning him.

20 And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has become· very ·heavy,

21 I will go·​·down now, and I will see whether they have made a complete end of it according·​·to her cry which has come to Me, and if not I will know.

22 And the men turned· their ·faces from thence, and went toward Sodom; and Abraham was still standing before Jehovah.

23 And Abraham approached, and said, Wilt Thou also consume the just with the wicked?

24 Perhaps there·​·be fifty just in the midst of the city; wilt Thou also consume and not spare* the place for the sake of the fifty just who are in the midst of her?

25 Far·​·be·​·it from Thee to do according·​·to this thing, to cause the just to die with the wicked, so that the just be as the wicked; far·​·be·​·it from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment?

26 And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty just in the midst of the city, I will spare* all the place on account of them.

27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold, I pray, I would speak to my Lord, and I am dust and ashes.

28 Perhaps there shall be·​·wanting five of the fifty just men; wilt Thou destroy all the city for the five? and He said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.

29 And he added still to speak to Him, and said, Perhaps forty shall be·​·found there; and He said, I will not do it on account of the forty.

30 And he said, I pray, let not my Lord be·​·incensed, and I will speak: perhaps thirty shall be·​·found there; and He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.

31 And he said, Behold, I pray, I would speak to my Lord: perhaps twenty shall be·​·found there; and He said, I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.

32 And he said, I pray, let not my Lord be·​·incensed, and I will speak only this time: perhaps ten shall be·​·found there; and He said, I will not destroy it on account of the ten.

33 And Jehovah went when He had completed speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2184

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2184. That 'butter' is the celestial part of the rational, 'milk' the spiritual deriving from this, and 'the young bull' the corresponding natural part, is clear from the meaning of 'butter', and of 'milk', and also of 'a young bull'. As regards 'butter', this in the Word means that which is celestial, and this because of the fat present in butter; for 'fat' means that which is celestial, as shown in Volume One, in 353, and 'oil', being fat, means the celestial itself, in 886. That 'butter' has the same meaning becomes clear in Isaiah,

Behold, a virgin is bearing a son, and will call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey will he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. Isaiah 7:14-15.

This refers to the Lord, who is Immanuel; and anyone may see that butter is not meant by 'butter', nor honey by 'honey'. But by 'butter' is meant His celestial, and by 'honey' that which is derived from that celestial.

[2] In the same chapter,

And it will be, because of the abundance of milk which they give, that he will eat butter, for butter and honey will everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land. Isaiah 7:22.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom, and to those on earth who are members of the Lord's kingdom. 'Milk' here stands for spiritual good, 'butter' for celestial good, and 'honey' for the happiness derived from this.

[3] In Moses,

Jehovah alone leads him, and there is no foreign god with him. He causes him to ride on the heights of the land, and He feeds [him] with the produce of the fields, and He causes him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock - butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the breed 1 of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you will drink unmixed wine. Deuteronomy 32:12-14.

No one is able to understand what all these things mean unless he knows the internal sense of each one. It seems like a pile of expressions such as belong to the oratory employed by the wise men of the world. But yet each expression means that which is celestial and that which is spiritual going with it, and also the blessing and happiness which flow from these, and all of them in a co-ordinated sequence. 'Butter from the herd' is the celestial-natural, 'milk from the flock' the celestial-spiritual of the rational.

[4] As regards 'milk' however, this means, as has been stated, that which is spiritual derived from that which is celestial, that is, the celestial-spiritual. What the celestial-spiritual is, see Volume One, in 1577, 1824, and in various other places. The reason 'milk' means that which is spiritual derived from that which is celestial is that 'water' means that which is spiritual, 680, 739, while milk, because of the fat in it, means the celestial-spiritual; or (what amounts to the same) truth rooted in good; or (also amounting to the same) faith grounded in love or charity; or (yet the same) the understanding part of the good present in the will; or (likewise amounting to the same) the affection for truth that has the affection for good within it; or (still yet the same) the affection for cognitions and facts that springs from the affection that belongs to charity towards the neighbour, such as exists with those who love the neighbour and confirm themselves in this love from the cognitions of faith and also from factual knowledge, which they love because they love the neighbour. All these are the same as the celestial-spiritual, and may be used in reference to any particular matter under discussion.

[5] That the celestial-spiritual is meant is also evident from the Word, as in Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread? Isaiah 55:1-2.

Here 'wine' stands for the spiritual element of faith, 'milk' for the spiritual element of love. In Moses,

He washes his garment in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. Genesis 49:11-12.

This is the prophecy of Jacob, who by now was Israel, regarding Judah - 'Judah' being used here to describe the Lord. By 'teeth whiter than milk' is meant the celestial-spiritual which belonged to His Natural.

[6] In Joel,

It will be, on that day, that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will run with milk, and all the streams of Judah will run with water. Joel 3:18.

Here, where the subject is the Lord's kingdom, 'milk' stands for the celestial-spiritual. Also in the Word the land of Canaan, which represents and means the Lord's kingdom, is called 'a land flowing with milk and honey', as in Numbers 13:27; 14:8; Deuteronomy 26:9, 15; 27:3; Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6, 15. In these places nothing else is meant by 'milk' than the abundance of celestial-spiritual things, and by 'honey' the abundant happiness derived from these. 'Land' is the celestial part itself of the kingdom from which they come.

[7] As regards 'a young bull' meaning the celestial-natural, this has been shown just above in 2180. The celestial-natural is the same as natural good, that is, good within the natural. Man's natural, like his rational, has its own good and its own truth, for then a marriage of good and truth exists everywhere, as stated above in 2173. The good that belongs to the natural is the delight which is perceived from charity, that is, from the friendship that is the product of charity; and from that delight springs the joy or satisfaction which belongs properly to the body. The truth of the natural consists in that factual knowledge which gives support to that delight. All this shows what the celestial-natural is.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, sons

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