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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;

4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.

9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

   

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Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) # 41

  
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41. The successive states of this Church-which are: rise or morning; progression into light, and day; vastation or evening, and consummation or night - it is not permitted to follow up with a description in the same manner as we before described the states of the Most Ancient Church, because the states of that Church cannot be so collected from our Word; for the posterity of Noah, through his three sons, is recorded only in a summary, in one or two pages; and, moreover, that Church was spread through many kingdoms, and in each kingdom it differed, and hence that Church underwent and ran through the states mentioned in a different manner.

[2] That THE FIRST AND SECOND STATE THEREOF in the regions round about the Jordan and about Egypt, was like the "garden of Jehovah," is evident from the words:

The plain of Jordan... was... like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, where thou comest unto Zoar (Gen. 13:10).

And that the like was the case with Tyre, appears from the following:

Thou prince of Tyre,... full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in... the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering;... thou was perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created until perversity was found in thee. (Ezek. 28:12-15).

That Asshur was like a "cedar in Lebanon," appears from the following:

Behold, Asshur is a cedar in Lebanon, beautiful in branch, lofty in height;... all the birds of the heavens nested in his branches, and under his branches did every beast of the field bring forth its young, and in his shadow dwelt all great nations:... No tree in the garden of God was equal to him in beauty,... and all those trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him (Ezek. 31:3-9).

That wisdom flourished in Arabia, is evident from the queen of Sheba's journey to Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-13); also from the three wise men who came to the new-born Jesus, a star going before them (Matt. 2:1-12).

[3] THE THIRD AND FOURTH STATE OF THAT CHURCH, which was that of its vastation and consummation, is described in various places in the Word, both in its historical and prophetical parts. The consummation of the nations round about the Jordan, or round about the land of Canaan, is described by the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim (Gen. 19); the consummation of the Church of the nations within the Jordan, or in the land of Canaan, is described in Joshua and in the Book of Judges by the expulsion of some and the extermination of others. The consummation of that Church in Egypt, is described by the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea (Exod. 14). And so on.

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