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1 Mosebok 13

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1 Så drog Abram fra Egypten op til sydlandet med sin hustru og alt det han eide, og Lot var med ham.

2 Og Abram var meget rik på buskap og på sølv og gull.

3 Og han drog i dagsreiser fra sydlandet, til han kom til Betel, til det sted hvor hans telt før hadde vært, mellem Betel og Ai,

4 der hvor det alter var som han hadde bygget første gang han var der; og der påkalte Abram Herrens navn.

5 Men også Lot, som drog med Abram, hadde småfe og storfe og telt.

6 Og landet kunde ikke rumme dem, så de kunde bo sammen; for deres eiendom var for stor til at de kunde bo sammen.

7 Så blev det trette mellem Abrams hyrder og Lots hyrder; og kana'anittene og ferisittene bodde dengang i landet.

8 Da sa Abram til Lot: Kjære, la det ikke være trette mellem mig og dig og mellem mine hyrder og dine hyrder! Vi er jo brødre.

9 Ligger ikke hele landet åpent for dig? Skill dig heller fra mig! Drar du til venstre, vil jeg dra til høire, og drar du til høire, vil jeg dra til venstre.

10 Da så Lot ut over landet, og han så at hele Jordan-sletten like til Soar overalt var rik på vann, som Herrens have, som Egyptens land - det var før Herren hadde ødelagt Sodoma og Gomorra.

11 Og Lot valgte for sig hele Jordan-sletten. Så drog Lot østover, og de skiltes fra hverandre.

12 Abram blev boende i Kana'ans land, og Lot bodde i byene på sletten og drog med sine telt like bort til Sodoma.

13 Men mennene i Sodoma var onde og syndet storlig mot Herren.

14 Og Herren sa til Abram efterat Lot hadde skilt sig fra ham: Løft dine øine og se fra det sted hvor du står, mot nord og mot syd og mot øst og mot vest!

15 For hele det land du ser, vil jeg gi dig og din ætt til evig tid.

16 Og jeg vil la din ætt bli som støvet på jorden; kan nogen telle støvet på jorden, så skal også din ætt kunne telles.

17 Stå op, og dra gjennem landet så langt og så bredt som det er! For dig vil jeg gi det.

18 Og Abram flyttet sine telt og kom til Mamres terebinte-lund i Hebron; der bosatte han sig, og han bygget der et alter for Herren.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1568

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1568. That 'the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together' means that the things which belonged to the celestial internals could not remain together with the former ones, that is to say, with those things meant here by 'Lot', is evident from the following considerations: 'Abram', as has been stated, represents the Lord, and at this point His Internal Man, while 'Lot' represents the external, and at this point the things that had to be separated from the external Man, with which things internals could not dwell together. In the external man there are many things with which the internal man is able to dwell together, such as affections for good and the delights and pleasures arising from them, for those delights and pleasures are the effects of the goods of the internal man and of his joys and happiness. When these are the effects they correspond perfectly, for in that case they belong to the internal man and not to the external man. For an effect, as is well known, is not the product of an effect but of an efficient cause. Take, for example, charity: when this shines out of the face, it is produced not by the face but by the charity within that so controls the face and produces the effect. Or take, for example, the innocence seen in the expressions on small children's faces, in the ways they act, and so in the games they play with one another: that innocence does not belong essentially to their expressions or actions but is derived from innocence from the Lord which flows in through their souls. Thus their expressions and actions are effects; so also with every other example taken.

[2] From these considerations it is clear that many things exist with the external man which are able to dwell or accord with the internal. But there are also many things which do not accord, that is, with which the internal man is unable to dwell, namely all that streams forth from self-love and love of the world; for everything resulting from these loves regards self or the world as its end in view. With these, celestial things that go with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour cannot agree, for celestial things regard the Lord as the end in view, and His kingdom and all that belongs to Him and His kingdom similarly as ends. The ends which self-love and love of the world have in view look to things of a more external or lower kind, whereas those which love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour have in view look to things of a more internal or higher kind. From these considerations it becomes clear that they are too discordant ever to remain together.

[3] To know what produces a correspondence and agreement of the external man with the internal and what produces disagreement one has only to reflect on the ends, or what amounts to the same, on the loves by which one is ruled; for people's loves constitute the ends they have in view, indeed whatever is loved by them is looked upon as an end. Such reflexion will show what one's life is really like and what it will be like after death, since it is from a person's ends, or what amounts to the same, his ruling loves, that his life is formed. The life of each individual is never otherwise. If the things which do not agree with eternal life, that is, with spiritual and celestial life - which is eternal life - are not removed during a person's lifetime they have to be removed in the next life. But if they are irremovable that person is bound to be unhappy for ever.

[4] These things have now been mentioned so that it may be known that in the external man there are things which agree with the internal and things which do not, that those which do agree cannot possibly remain together with those that do not, and also that those things in the external man which do agree come from the internal man, that is, from the Lord by way of the internal man; as for example, in the case of a face radiant with charity, or a charitable face, or in the case of the innocence seen in the expressions on the faces and in the actions of young children, as has been stated. The things which do not accord however belong to man and his proprium. From this one may know what 'the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together' means. Here, in the internal sense, the Lord is the subject; and since the Lord is the subject so also is every likeness and image of Him, namely His kingdom, the Church, and every member of that kingdom or of the Church; and therefore here the things residing with men are presented. These same things that resided with the Lord before He overcame evil, that is, the devil and hell, by His Own power, and so became celestial, Divine, and Jehovah even as to His Human Essence, must be seen in relation to His state at that time.

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