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Genesis 21

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1 And Jehovah visited Sarah, as He had said; and Jehovah did to Sarah as He had spoken.

2 And Sarah conceived and gave·​·birth·​·to a son for Abraham for his old·​·age, at the appointed·​·time, of which God had spoken with him.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, to whom Sarah gave·​·birth for him, Isaac.

4 And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son, a son of eight days, as God had commanded him.

5 And Abraham was a son of a hundred years when Isaac his son was·​·born to him.

6 And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me, everyone that hears will laugh with me.

7 And she said, Who would have stated to Abraham, Sarah shall nurse sons? For I have given·​·birth to a son for his old·​·age.

8 And the child was growing·​·up, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast, on the day when Isaac was weaned.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking*.

10 And she said to Abraham, Drive·​·out this maidservant and her son; for the son of this maidservant shall not possess with my son, with Isaac.

11 And the word was· exceedingly ·evil in the eyes of Abraham, on account of his son.

12 And God said to Abraham, Let it not be·​·evil in thine eyes on·​·account·​·of the lad, and on·​·account·​·of thy maidservant; all that Sarah says to thee, hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13 And also the son of the maidservant I will set for a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose·​·early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave them to Hagar, and set them on her shoulder, and the child, and sent· her ·away; and she went and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 And the water was·​·all·​·gone from the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went and sat by herself, withdrawing herself a distance of about a bowshot from his presence; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child; and she sat away from his presence; and she lifted up her voice, and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out·​·of the heavens, and said to her, What ails thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad, where he is.

18 Arise, lift the lad, and make· thy hand ·firm with him, for I will set him for a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave· the lad ·drink.

20 And God was with the lad, and he was growing·​·up, and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became a shooter of the bow.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.

22 And it was at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the commander of his army said to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou art doing.

23 And now promise to me here by God, that thou wilt not do·​·falsely to me, nor to my son, nor to my grandson; according·​·to the mercy that I have done with thee, thou shalt do with·​·me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.

24 And Abraham said, I will promise.

25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech, on account of the well of waters which Abimelech’s servants had taken·​·by·​·robbery.

26 And Abimelech said, I know not who has done this thing, and even thou didst not tell me, and even I did not hear of it, until today.

27 And Abraham took flock and herd, and gave to Abimelech, and the two of them cut a covenant.

28 And Abraham stood seven ewe-lambs of the flock by·​·themselves.

29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What are these seven ewe-lambs, these which thou hast stood by themselves?

30 And he said, For these seven ewe-lambs thou shalt take from my hand, so·​·that it may be a testimony for me that I have dug this well.

31 Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba*, for there the two of them promised.

32 And they cut a covenant in Beer-sheba; and Abimelech arose, and Phichol the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 And he planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Jehovah, the God of eternity.

34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1197

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1197. 'From whom Pelishtim came forth' means the nation which came from these, and which means a knowledge of the cognitions of faith and charity. This is clear from the Word where they are mentioned many times. In the Ancient Church all were called Philistines who spoke much about faith and who asserted that salvation lay in faith, and yet possessed nothing of the life of faith. Consequently they more than any others were called uncircumcised, that is, devoid of charity. (For references to them as the uncircumcised, see 1 Samuel 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Samuel 1:20; and elsewhere.) Being such as they were they inevitably made cognitions of faith matters of memory, for cognitions of spiritual and celestial things, and the arcana of faith themselves, become purely matters of memory when a person who is acquainted with them is devoid of charity. Things of the memory are so to speak dead if the person is not such that he lives according to them from conscience. When he does live according to them from conscience things of the memory are in that case matters of life as well, and only then do they remain with him for his use and salvation following life in the body. Knowledge and cognitions are of no value to anyone in the next life, even though he may have known all the arcana that have ever been revealed, if they have made no impact on his life.

[2] Throughout the prophetical parts of the Word 'the Philistines' means people such as these, as they do in the historical sections of the Word, as when Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines and made a covenant with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, Genesis 20:1-end; 21:22-end; 26:1-33. Because the Philistines here meant cognitions of faith, and because Abraham represented the celestial things of faith, he sojourned there and made a covenant with them. So likewise did Isaac, who represented the spiritual things of faith. But Jacob did not do so because he represented the external features of the Church.

[3] That 'the Philistines' means, in general, knowledge of the cognitions of faith, and in particular people who make faith and salvation reside in cognitions alone which they make matters of memory, becomes clear also in Isaiah,

Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod which smites you has been broken, for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying prester. Isaiah 14:29

Here 'the serpent's root' stands for facts, 'an adder' for evil arising out of falsities based on facts. 'The fruits of a flying prester' is their works which, because they are the product of evil desires, are called 'a flying prester'

[4] In Joel,

What are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? Swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head, inasmuch as you have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples, and have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Javanites, 1 that you might remove them far away from their border. Joel 3:4-6.

What 'the Philistines' and the whole of Philistia, or 'all its borders', are used to mean here is plain. 'Silver' and 'gold' here are the spiritual and celestial things of faith, 'good and desirable treasures' cognitions of them. 'They carried them into their temples' means that they were in possession of them and proclaimed them. 'They sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem' however means that they possessed no love and no faith. In the Word 'Judah' is the celestial element of faith, and 'Jerusalem' the spiritual element deriving from it, which were 'removed far away from their borders'. Further examples exist in the Prophets, such as Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 47:1-end; Ezekiel 16:27, 57; 25:15-16; Amos 1:8; 19; Zephaniah 2:5; Psalms 87:4; and the people of Caphtor are mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4; Amos 9:7.

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1. i.e. the Greeks

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