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1 Mosebok 18

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1 Og Herren åpenbarte sig for ham i Mamres terebinte-lund, mens han satt i døren til sitt telt midt på heteste dagen.

2 Da han så op, fikk han se tre menn som stod foran ham; og da han blev dem var, løp han dem i møte fra teltdøren og bøide sig til jorden

3 og sa: Herre! Dersom jeg har funnet nåde for dine øine, så gå ikke din tjener forbi!

4 La oss få hente litt vann, så I kan få tvette eders føtter, og hvil eder under treet!

5 Og la mig hente et stykke brød, så I kan vederkvege eder før I drar videre - siden I nu har lagt veien om eders tjener. De sa: Ja, gjør som du sier!

6 Da skyndte Abraham sig inn i teltet til Sara og sa: Skynd dig og ta tre mål fint mel; elt det og bak kaker!

7 Og selv sprang Abraham bort til buskapen og hentet en fin og god kalv; den gav han til drengen, og han skyndte sig å lage den til.

8 Så tok han rømme og søt melk og kalven som han hadde latt drengen lage til, og satte det for dem; og han stod hos dem under treet mens de åt.

9 Da sa de til ham: Hvor er Sara, din hustru? Han svarte: Hun er der inne i teltet.

10 Da sa han*: Jeg vil komme igjen til dig på denne tid næste år, og da skal Sara, din hustru, ha en sønn. Og Sara hørte det i teltdøren, for den var bak ham. / {* Herren 1MO 18 13.}

11 Men Abraham og Sara var gamle og langt ute i årene; Sara hadde det ikke lenger på kvinners vis.

12 Derfor lo Sara ved sig selv og sa: Skulde jeg, nu jeg er blitt gammel, ha attrå, og min mann er også gammel.

13 Da sa Herren til Abraham: Hvorfor ler Sara og tenker: Skal jeg da virkelig få barn, nu jeg er blitt gammel?

14 Skulde nogen ting være umulig for Herren? På denne tid næste år vil jeg komme til dig igjen, og da skal Sara ha en sønn.

15 Men Sara nektet og sa: Jeg lo ikke. For hun var redd. Da sa han: Jo, du lo.

16 Så stod mennene op for å gå derfra, og de tok veien bortimot Sodoma; og Abraham gikk med dem for å følge dem på veien.

17 Da sa Herren: Skulde jeg vel dølge for Abraham det som jeg tenker å gjøre?

18 Abraham skal jo bli et stort og tallrikt folk, og alle jordens folk skal velsignes i ham;

19 for jeg har utvalgt ham forat han skal byde sine barn og sitt hus efter sig at de skal holde sig efter Herrens vei og gjøre rett og rettferdighet, så Herren kan la Abraham få det som han har lovt ham.

20 Og Herren sa: opet over Sodoma og Gomorra er sannelig stort, og deres synd er sannelig meget svær.

21 Jeg vil stige ned og se om de i alt har båret sig slik at som det lyder det rop som er nådd op til mig, og hvis ikke, så vil jeg vite det.

22 Så vendte mennene sig derfra og gikk til Sodoma, men Abraham blev stående for Herrens åsyn.

23 Og Abraham trådte nærmere og sa: Vil du da rykke den rettferdige bort sammen med den ugudelige?

24 Kanskje det er femti rettferdige i byen; vil du da rykke dem bort og ikke spare byen for de femti rettferdiges skyld som kunde være der?

25 Det være langt fra dig å gjøre slikt og slå ihjel den rettferdige sammen med den ugudelige, så det går den rettferdige på samme vis som den ugudelige! Det være langt fra dig! Den som dømmer hele jorden, skulde ikke han gjøre rett?

26 Da sa Herren: Dersom jeg i byen Sodoma finner femti rettferdige, da vil jeg spare hele byen for deres skyld.

27 Men Abraham tok atter til orde og sa: Se, jeg har dristet mig til å tale til Herren, enda jeg er støv og aske;

28 kanskje det fattes fem i de femti rettferdige, vil du da ødelegge hele byen for disse fems skyld? Han svarte: Jeg skal ikke ødelegge den dersom jeg finner fem og firti der.

29 Men han blev ennu ved å tale til ham og sa: Kanskje det finnes firti. Han svarte: Jeg skal ikke gjøre det - for de firtis skyld.

30 Men han sa: Herre, bli ikke vred om jeg taler! Kanskje det finnes tretti. Han svarte: Jeg skal ikke gjøre det dersom jeg finner tretti der.

31 Da sa han: Se, jeg har dristet mig til å tale til Herren; kanskje det finnes tyve. Han svarte: Jeg skal ikke ødelegge den - for de tyves skyld.

32 Da sa han: Herre, bli ikke vred om jeg taler bare denne ene gang til! Kanskje det finnes ti. Han svarte: Jeg skal ikke ødelegge den - for de tis skyld.

33 Så gikk Herren bort, da han hadde talt ut med Abraham; og Abraham vendte tilbake til det sted hvor han bodde.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2243

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2243. 'Whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know' means whether evil has reached its peak. This is clear from the meaning of 'cry' as falsity, dealt with just above in 2240. There are two kinds of falsity, as was mentioned at the end of that paragraph, namely falsity which comes from evil, and falsity which produces evil. Falsity coming from evil consists in everything a person thinks while he is subject to evil, that is to say, everything which supports evil. For example, when a person is subject to adultery he thinks that adultery is permissible, that it is right and proper, that it is the delight of life, that the birth of offspring is promoted by it, and many other ideas such as these. These are all falsities coming from evil.

[2] Falsity which produces evil however comes about when a person holds to some tenet of the religion he belongs to and as a consequence believes that it is good or holy, when in fact in itself it is evil. For example, a person who believes from his religion that some human being is able to save, and who therefore worships and venerates that human being, creates evil out of that falsity. The same applies to any other religious persuasion which in itself is false. Since falsity therefore both derives from evil and produces evil the word 'cry' occurs here and means, as a kind of general term, that which is implied by it, namely evil. This is also evident from the fact that the words 'whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me' include both 'the cry of it' in the singular, and 'they have brought it to a close' in the plural.

[3] What a close is has been shown in Volume One, in 1857. What more is implied by a close may be ascertained from the history of the Churches. The Most Ancient Church, which was called Man, was the most celestial of all, yet that Church in course of time so declined from the good that flows from love that at length nothing celestial was left. At this point it came to its close which is described by the state of those people prior to the Flood.

[4] The Ancient Church, which came after the Flood, and was called Noah, and was less celestial, also in course of time so fell away from the good flowing from charity that no charity at all was left; for it was changed partly into magic, partly into idolatry, and partly into a system of doctrine separate from charity. At that point it reached its close.

[5] Another Church then followed which was called the Hebrew Church and was less celestial and spiritual still, making a certain kind of holy worship consist in external religious observances. This Church as well was in course of time perverted in varying ways, and that sort of external worship was turned into idolatrous worship. At that point it reached its close.

[6] A fourth Church was established after that among the descendants of Jacob, which did not possess anything celestial or spiritual, only that which was the representative of such. Consequently that Church was a Church representative of celestial and spiritual things, for what their religious observances actually represented and meant they did not know. But that Church was established in order that some link might nevertheless exist between man and heaven, like that which exists between the representatives of good and truth, and good and truth themselves. This Church so went off in the end into falsities and evils that every religious observance became idolatrous, at which point it reached its close.

[7] Therefore once those consecutive Churches, each declining as indicated, had come and gone - and in the last of them the link between the human race and heaven had become severed so completely that the human race would have perished because no Church existed to provide such a link and a bond, see 468, 637, 931, 2054 - the Lord came into the world; and through the Divine Essence united to the Human Essence within Himself, He joined heaven and earth together. At the same time He established a new Church, called the Christian Church, in which, to begin with, good that is the fruit of faith was present, and people lived together in charity as brethren. But with the passage of time it departed in different directions, and today has become such that people do not even know that faith is grounded in love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. And although they assert from doctrine that the Lord is the Saviour of the human race, that they will rise again after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, few nevertheless believe these things. Since this Church has become such, its close is not far away.

[8] These considerations show what the close is, namely that it is the time when evil has reached its peak. The situation is similar in particular, that is, with each individual; but how the close or climax comes about in the case of the individual will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. Various places in the Word refer to the close and describe the state which comes before it as vastation and desolation, which is followed by visitation.

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