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Genesis 20

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1 And Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar.

2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 And God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold thou wilt·​·die on·​·account·​·of the woman whom thou hast taken, for she is married to a husband.

4 And Abimelech had not come·​·near to her; and he said, Lord, wilt Thou kill also a just nation?

5 Said he not to me, She is my sister? And she herself also Said, He is my brother; in the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands have I done this.

6 And God said to him in the dream, I also know that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done this; and I also kept· thee ·back from sinning against Me; therefore I did not allow thee to touch her.

7 And now return the wife of the man, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou return her not, know thou that dying thou shalt die, thou and all that are thine.

8 And Abimelech got·​·up·​·early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men feared exceedingly.

9 And Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, What hast thou done to us? And wherein have I sinned against thee that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done with·​·me deeds that ought not to be done.

10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What sawest thou that thou hast done this word?

11 And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me on·​·account·​·of the matter of my wife.

12 And also, truly, she is my sister, being the daughter of my father, only not the daughter of my mother, and she became for me a wife.

13 And it was, as God caused me to depart* from the house of my father, that I said to her, This is thy mercy which thou shalt do with·​·me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14 And Abimelech took flock and herd, and menservants and handmaids, and gave to Abraham; and returned to him Sarah his wife.

15 And Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee; dwell in that which is good in thine eyes.

16 And to Sarah he said, Behold I have given a thousand of silver to thy brother; behold it is to thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee, and with all; and she was vindicated.

17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they gave·​·birth.

18 For restraining Jehovah had therefore restrained every womb of the house of Abimelech, on·​·account·​·of the word of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2575

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2575. 'Behold, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother' means an infinite abundance of rational truth joined to [celestial] good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a thousand' as much and countless, here, as infinite, or an infinite abundance, since the expression has reference to the Lord, a meaning dealt with below; from the meaning of 'silver' as rational truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048; and from the meaning of 'a brother' as celestial good joined to rational truth, like a brother to a sister, 2524, 2557. From this it is evident that 'I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother' means an infinite abundance of rational truth joined to [celestial] good. The reason this abundance was granted to good, meant by 'a brother', but not to truth, is that truth derives from good, not good from truth. Regarding that infinite abundance, see 2572.

[2] That 'a thousand' in the Word means much and countless, and infinite when it has reference to the Lord, is evident from the following places: In Moses,

I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generations of those who hate Me; and showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:5-6; 34:7; Deuteronomy 5:9-10.

And in Jeremiah,

Jehovah shows mercy to thousands and He repays the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. Jeremiah 32:18.

In these two places 'thousands' does not mean a definite number but that which is infinite, for the Lord's mercy, being Divine, is infinite. In David,

The chariots of God are myriad on myriad, thousands on thousands; 1 the Lord is within them, Sinai within holiness. Psalms 68:17.

Here 'myriads' and 'thousands' stand for things that are countless.

[3] In the same author,

A thousand will fall at your side, and a myriad at your right hand; it will not come near you. Psalms 91:7.

Here also 'a thousand' and 'a myriad' stand for things that are countless, and as it has reference to the Lord, who is meant by 'David' in the Psalms, those numbers stand for all who are His enemies. In the same author,

Our garners are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks bring forth a thousand, and ten thousand in our streets. Psalms 144:13.

Here also 'a thousand', and 'ten thousand' or a myriad, stand for things that are countless. In the same author,

A thousand years in Your eyes are but as yesterday when it is past. Psalms 90:4.

'A thousand years' stands for that which is outside time, thus for eternity, which is infinity of time. In Isaiah,

One thousand at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five will you flee until you are left like a flagstaff on top of a mountain. Isaiah 30:17.

Here 'one thousand' or a chiliad stands for a large indefinite number, 'five' for few, 649. In Moses,

May Jehovah the God of your fathers add to you, as you are, a thousand times, and may He bless you. Deuteronomy 1:11.

Here 'a thousand times' stands for things that are countless, as in everyday speech in which also a thousand is an expression for many, as when one speaks of things being said thousands of times, or done in thousands of ways. Similarly in Joshua,

One man of you will chase a thousand, for Jehovah your God fights for you. Joshua 23:10.

[4] Being a definite calculable number, the word 'thousand' when used in prophetical parts, especially when these are linked together as historical descriptions, appears to mean a thousand. But in fact it means people who are many or countless - an unspecified number. For historical descriptions are of such a nature that they restrict people's ideas to the most immediate and proper meanings that the words possess, as they also do with the names that occur there, when in fact numbers in the Word, like names also, mean real things, as may become clear from what has been shown already concerning numbers in 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252. This explains why some people suppose that the thousand years referred to in Revelation 20:1-7 means a thousand years or periods of time, for the reason, as has been stated, that prophecies are declared in that book through historical descriptions. But in fact 'a thousand years' there means nothing else than that which is large and indeterminate, and elsewhere infinity of time, or eternity.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, two myriads, thousands doubled.

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