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Genesis 20

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1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and 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 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself Said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2558

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2558. 'She became my wife' means that spiritual truth was joined to the celestial, with rationality serving as the means. This is clear from the representation of 'Sarah' when Abraham's 'wife' as spiritual truth joined to celestial good, dealt with in 2507, and from the representation of the same character when 'a sister' as rational truth, dealt with in 2508. Consequently the statement that from being 'a sister' she became 'a wife' means that spiritual truth was joined to the celestial, with rationality serving as the means. What is implied in all this becomes clear from what has been stated immediately above in 2557.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2557

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2557. 'My father's daughter but not my mother's daughter' means that the rational was conceived from celestial good as the father but not from spiritual truth as the mother. This becomes clear from the conception of the rational, that is to say, it comes into being through an influx of Divine celestial good into the affection for factual knowledge, dealt with in 1895, 1902, 1910. Two arcana are present here, the first being that man's rational is conceived from Divine celestial good as the father, and that there is no other way in which any rational may come into being; and the second, that the rational is not conceived from spiritual truth as the mother. As regards the first arcanum - that man's rational is conceived from Divine celestial good as the father, and that there is no other way in which any rational comes into being - this may become clear from what has been stated already in 1895, 1902, 1910, as well as from what anybody may know if he reflects.

[2] For it is well known that man is born without any knowledge and without any actual rationality, and with only the ability to acquire these; also that after he is born he learns and absorbs all things gradually, chiefly by means of sensory impressions received through hearing and sight; and as he learns and absorbs them so he becomes rational. The fact that these things are accomplished by way of the body, which is an external way, because they are accomplished through hearing and sight, is self-evident. But the thing man does not know, because he does not reflect on the matter, is that something is flowing in constantly from within which receives those things that thus enter in and are implanted through hearing and sight, and arranges them into order. That which flows in, receives, and arranges them is Divine celestial good, which comes from the Lord. This is the source of the life of those things, the source of their order, and the source of all the separate relationships among them, as has been stated. From all this it may become clear that man's rational springs from Divine celestial good as the father, in accordance with the words in this verse, 'she is my father's daughter'.

[3] As regards the second arcanum - that the rational is not conceived from spiritual truth as the mother - this becomes clear from what has been stated in 1902. For if spiritual truth were to flow in from within, as good does, man would be born with total rationality and at the same time with complete knowledge, so that he would have no need to learn anything. But since man is such that because of his heredity he is under the influence of every evil and consequently of every falsity, so that if truths themselves also were to flow in he would adulterate them and falsify them and in so doing would perish for ever, the Lord has provided against any truth at all flowing in by way of man's internal being, only by way of his external. From this it becomes clear that man's rational does not spring from spiritual truth as the mother, in accordance with the words in this verse, 'but not my mother's daughter'. It pleased the Lord that His own Rational as well should be formed according to the same order, to the end that by His own power He might make Divine all things with Him that were Human, and might implant Divine spiritual Truth in, and unite it to, Divine celestial Good, and implant Divine celestial Good in, and unite it to, Divine spiritual Truth.

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