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Genesis 25

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1 And Abraham added, and took a woman, and her name was Keturah.

2 And for him she gave·​·birth·​·to Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuach.

3 And Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim,* and Letushim, and Leummim.

4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Enoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.

6 And to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent· them ·away from being by Isaac his son, when he was still living, eastward to the land of the east.

7 And these are the days of the years of the lives of Abraham which he lived; a hundred years, and seventy years, and five years.

8 And Abraham expired and died with good gray·​·hairs, old and sated of days*, and was gathered to his peoples.

9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is by the face of Mamre;

10 the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth; there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

11 And it was, after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac his son; and Isaac dwelt at Beer-lahai-roi.

12 And these are the births of Ishmael the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, gave·​·birth for Abraham.

13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according·​·to their births: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adhbeel, and Mibsam;

14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa;

15 Chadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah;

16 these are they, the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, in their villages and in their castles; twelve chiefs for their peoples.

17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred years, and thirty years, and seven years; and he expired and died, and was gathered to his peoples.

18 And they resided from Havilah even·​·to Shur, who is upon the faces of Egypt, in coming toward Assyria; he settled* against the faces of all his brothers.

19 And these are the births of Isaac, the son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac.

20 And Isaac was a son of forty years when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to himself for a woman.

21 And Isaac supplicated to Jehovah on account of his woman, for she was barren, and Jehovah was supplicated for him, and Rebekah his woman conceived.

22 And the sons clashed·​·with·​·each·​·other in the midst·​·of her; and she said, If so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of Jehovah.

23 And Jehovah said to her, Two nations are in thy belly, and Two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall prevail above the other people, and the greater shall serve the lesser.

24 And her days were·​·fulfilled to give·​·birth, and behold twins were in her belly.

25 And the first came·​·out all of him ruddy as a mantle of hair, and they called his name Esau.

26 And after that came·​·forth his brother, and his hand seized on Esau’s heel*, and he called his name Jacob*; and Isaac was a son of sixty years when she gave·​·birth to them.

27 And the lads grew·​·up; and Esau was a man knowing hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob was a perfect man, dwelling in tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, for his hunting was in his mouth; and Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 And Jacob stewed a stew, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Let me sup, I pray, of the red, this red, for I am faint; therefore he called his name Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell as·​·it·​·were today* thy birthright to me.

32 And Esau said, Behold I am going to die, and for what is this birthright to me?

33 And Jacob said, Promise to me as·​·it·​·were today; and he promised to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose·​·up and went; and Esau despised the birthright.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 3235

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3235. 'Abraham took another wife' means a further state which the Lord, whom Abraham represents, passed through - for 'Abraham and Sarah' represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, 'Abraham and Keturah' the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual. This is clear from what has been stated and shown so far about Abraham and his wife Sarah, and from what is recorded here about Abraham and Keturah. But as it is said that Abraham here represents a further state which the Lord passed through, and that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, whereas Abraham and Keturah did so as regards the Divine Spiritual, one needs to know what is meant by the Divine Celestial and by the Divine Spiritual. The Divine Celestial and the Divine Spiritual have to do with those people who receive the Lord's Divine, for the Lord is seen by everyone according to the character of the recipient, as becomes clear from what has been stated in 1838, 1861, and is quite evident from the fact that the Lord appears to celestial people in one way but to spiritual in another. For He appears as the sun to those who are celestial, but as the moon to those who are spiritual, 1529-1531, 1838. The Lord appears to celestial people as the sun because in them celestial love, which is love to the Lord, is present, but to spiritual people as the moon because in these spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour, is present. The difference is like that between the light of the sun during the daytime and the light of the moon at night, and also between the warmth of both which causes things in the ground to grow. These are what were meant in Genesis 1 by the words,

And God made the two great Lights, the greater Light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser Light to have dominion over the night. Genesis 1:16.

[2] The Lord's kingdom is in general celestial and spiritual, that is, it consists of those who are celestial and of those who are spiritual. And because the Lord's Divine appears to those who are celestial as being celestial, but to those who are spiritual as being spiritual, it is therefore said that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, but Abraham and Keturah as regards the Divine Spiritual. But as scarcely anyone knows what the celestial is or what the spiritual, and who they are who are celestial or spiritual, please see what has been stated and shown about them already in the following places:

What the celestial is and what the spiritual, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2184, 2227, 2507.

Who celestial people are and who spiritual, 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715.

The celestial man is a likeness of the Lord and does good from love, whereas the spiritual man is an image of the Lord and does it from faith, 50-52, 1013.

Those who are celestial perceive truth from good and never indulge in reasoning about it, 202, 337, 607, 895, 1121, 2715.

With the celestial man good is implanted in the will part of his mind, but with the spiritual man in the understanding part, within which, in the case of those who are spiritual, a new will is created, 863, 875, 895, 897, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256.

From good itself those who are celestial see things without limit, but those who are spiritual, because they reason whether a thing is so, cannot reach even the furthest limit to which the light that the celestial have spreads, 2718.

Compared with those who are celestial those who are spiritual dwell in obscurity, 1043, 2708, 2715.

The Lord came into the world to save those who are spiritual, 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1043

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1043. 'The cloud' means the obscure light in which the spiritual man dwells in comparison with the celestial man. This becomes clear from what has just been stated concerning the bow; for the bow, or the colour of the bow, is never manifested except within the cloud. As has been stated, it is the obscurity itself through which the sun's rays shine that is converted into different colours, and so the actual colour that is produced is determined by the nature of the obscurity which the brightness of those rays encounters. Similarly with the spiritual man. The obscurity with him, which is called 'the cloud' here, is falsity, and is the same as the intellectual side of his proprium. When innocence, charity, and mercy from the Lord are instilled into this part of his proprium, the cloud is no longer seen as falsity but as an appearance of truth together with [real] truth from the Lord. Consequently there is the likeness of a coloured bow. The conversion of something spiritual that defies description is involved here, but how else the matter can be explained intelligibly except through the way a person perceives colours and how they are produced I do not know.

[2] The nature of this cloud with someone who is regenerate is clear from what his state was prior to regeneration. A person is regenerated by means of the things he supposes to be the truths of faith. Everyone supposes that his own accepted belief is the truth, and on this basis acquires a conscience. Consequently once he has acquired a conscience, acting contrary to the things that have been impressed on him as being the truths of faith is to him acting contrary to conscience. This applies to everyone who is regenerate. For many from whatever accepted belief are regenerated by the Lord; and once regenerated, they do not receive any direct revelation, but only those things which are implanted through the Word and preaching of it. But because they receive charity, the Lord operates by way of charity into the cloud that is theirs. From this, light is provided, as when the sun pierces a cloud which thereby becomes more illumined and made varicoloured. So also within the cloud [of falsity] the likeness of a bow is manifested. The thinner the cloud therefore, that is, the more it consists of many truths of faith blending together, the more beautiful is the bow; but the thicker this cloud, that is, the less it consists of truths of faith, the less beautiful the bow. Innocence adds considerably to its beauty, bringing so to speak a living brightness to the colours.

[3] All appearances of truth are 'clouds' which envelop a person when he is confined to the sense of the letter of the Word, for the Word speaks according to appearances. Yet, even though he remains in appearances, since he believes the Word in simplicity and has charity, that cloud is relatively thin - it being within this cloud that the Lord forms conscience in the case of one who is inside the Church. In addition, all forms of ignorance of truth are 'clouds', such as envelop a person who does not know what the truth of faith is, in general when he does not know what the Word is, and still more when he has not heard about the Lord. It is within this cloud that the Lord forms conscience in the case of one who is outside the Church; for in ignorance itself there can be innocence, and so charity. All falsities too are 'clouds', but these clouds are the darkness that exists either with people who have a false conscience, as described already, or with people who have none at all. These are in general the various types of clouds. As regards the number of them, the clouds with an individual are so numerous and so thick that if he knew he would be amazed that rays of light from the Lord could ever pierce them at all and that anyone could be regenerated. The person who imagines he has a very small amount of cloud sometimes has a vast quantity of it, while the one who believes he has a vast quantity of cloud has less.

[4] Such clouds reside with the spiritual man, but with the celestial man not so many do so since with him love to the Lord is present, which has been implanted in the will part of his mind. He does not therefore receive conscience from the Lord as the spiritual man does, but perception of good and from this of truth. When the will part of someone's mind is such that he is able to receive rays from a celestial flame, the understanding part is lit up by it, and he knows and perceives from love all things that are truths of faith. The will part is then like a little sun from which rays pass into the understanding part. Such was the nature of the member of the Most Ancient Church. But when the will part of his mind has become utterly corrupted and hellish, and a new will, which is conscience, is therefore formed in the understanding part, as happened to the member of the Ancient Church and happens now to every regenerate member of the spiritual Church, there is thick cloud; for, having no ability to perceive what good and truth are, he must gain a knowledge of this through learning about them. At the same time falsity, which is the obscurity of the cloud, is constantly flowing in from the black will part of his mind, that is, from hell by way of that will part. For this reason the understanding part with the spiritual man can never be enlightened in the way that it is with the celestial man. This is why 'cloud' here means the obscure light in which the spiritual man dwells in comparison with the celestial man.

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