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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 # 2252

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2252. That 'perhaps there may be fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city' means that the truths may be full of goods is clear from the meaning of 'fifty' as full, from the meaning of 'righteous' as good, dealt with in 612, 2235, from [the meaning] of 'midst' as that which is within, 1074, and from [the meaning] of 'the city' as truth, 402. Thus 'fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city' in the internal sense means that the truths may be full of goods. That this meaning exists within these words cannot be seen by anyone from the letter, for the historical details of the literal sense lead the mind in an altogether different direction or to think in a different way; but that these words are nevertheless perceived according to that meaning by those who possess the internal sense, I know for certain. Moreover the actual numbers mentioned, such as fifty here, and forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and ten in what follows, are never perceived as numbers by those who possess the internal sense but as real things or as states, as shown in 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075.

[2] Indeed the ancients also used numbers to mark off one from another the states of their Church; and the nature of such numbers worked out by them becomes clear from the meaning of the numbers in the paragraphs that have just been mentioned. The meaning possessed by numbers was received by those people from the representatives which manifest themselves in the world of spirits. There when anything appears as that which is numbered, it does not mean something defined by means of numbers but means some real thing or else a state, as becomes clear from what has been presented in 2129, 2130, and also in 2089, regarding 'twelve' meaning all things of faith. It is similar with the numbers that now follow. This shows what the nature of the Word is in the internal sense.

[3] The reason 'fifty' means that which is full is that it is the number which comes after seven times seven, or forty-nine, and so marks the completion of the latter number. This explains why in the representative Church the feast of the seven sabbaths 1 was held on the fiftieth day, and why a jubilee was held in the fiftieth year. Regarding the feast of the seven sabbaths the following is said in Moses,

You shall count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath; from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven sabbaths shall there be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count fifty days, and offer a new gift to Jehovah. Leviticus 23:15-16.

Regarding the jubilee in the same book,

You shall count for yourself seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, and you shall have a time of seven sabbaths of years, forty-nine years. And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you. Leviticus 25:8, 10.

From this it is evident that 'the fiftieth' means that which marks the full completion of the sabbaths.

[4] What is more, whenever 'fifty' is mentioned in the Word it means that which is full, as in the case of the numbering of the Levites aged thirty years and over up to fifty years of age, Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47; 8:25. Here 'fifty' stands for the full or final state of that period of ministerial service. A man found lying with a young woman who was a virgin had to give to the young woman's father fifty pieces of silver, and she had to be his wife; nor could he divorce her, Deuteronomy 22:29. Here 'fifty pieces of silver' stands for a full fine and a full recompense. David's giving to Araunah fifty pieces of silver for the threshing-floor, where he built an altar to Jehovah, 2 Samuel 24:24, stands for a full price and a full payment. Absalom's making ready for himself a chariot and horses, and his having fifty men running before him, 2 Samuel 15:1, and Adonijah's likewise having chariots and horsemen, and fifty men running before him, 1 Kings 1:5, stand for their full dignity and majesty. For these people received from the ancients certain numbers which were representative and carried spiritual meanings and which were observed by them. Those numbers were also commanded in their religious observances, though the majority of the people did not know what was meant by them.

[5] In the same way, because 'fifty' means that which is full and this number was also representative, as has been stated, the same thing is meant in the Lord's parable concerning the steward, who said to the man owing oil,

How much do you owe my master? He said, A hundred baths of oil. Then he said to him, Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. Luke 16:5-6.

'Fifty' stands for the full discharge of the debt. Being a number it does indeed seem to imply nothing more than a number, when in fact in the internal sense this number is used in every case to mean that which is full, as also in Haggai,

One came to the winevat to draw fifty measures from the winevat, and there were only twenty. Haggai 2:16.

This means that instead of a full amount there was not much. 'Fifty' would not have been mentioned in the prophet if it had not carried this meaning.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Often referred to as the feast of weeks

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