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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 # 3296

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3296. 'And the greater will serve the less' means that the good of truth must for a time be subordinate. This is clear from the meaning of 'the greater' as good, from the meaning of 'serving' as being subordinate, and from the meaning of 'the less' as truth. This matter may be seen from what follows, being described there by means of Esau and Jacob. For as has been stated, 'Esau' represents good, and 'Jacob' truth. The rise of a struggle or conflict over priority and over lordship is described in the internal sense by Jacob's stealing the birthright from Esau and also the blessing. But the fact that this situation would last for a time only is evident from Isaac's prophecy concerning Esau,

And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; and it will be, when you have dominion over him, that you will break his yoke from above your neck. Genesis 27:40.

[2] The fact that the things said in this verse have an internal sense, and that without that internal sense nobody can know what they mean, is quite evident, that is to say, what is meant by 'two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your bowels', and by '[one] people will prevail over [the other] people, and the greater will serve the less'. The fact that they do mean the things that have been stated is clear from what follows where the subject is dealt with extensively. Furthermore one can scarcely credit that these statements embody such things unless one knows about good and truth, about the birth of the first from the second, and about the change of state with a person when being regenerated. In the internal sense the subject is indeed the Lord, here how the Lord made His Natural Divine. But in the representative sense the subject is the regeneration of man, for man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3043, 3138, 3212 - that is, in regeneration one sees as in a certain image the manner in which the Lord glorified His Human, or what amounts to the same, made it Divine. For as the Lord changed completely His human state into a Divine one, so also does the Lord when He is regenerating man change his state completely, for He turns his old man into a new man.

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