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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 # 2280

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2280. That 'perhaps twenty will be found there' means even if there is no existence of conflict but good is nevertheless present is clear from the meaning of 'twenty'. As all the numbers mentioned in the Word mean real things and states, as stated and shown in various places already, see 2252, so also does 'twenty'; and what twenty means becomes clear from how it may be obtained, namely from twice ten. In the Word ten, as also tenths, means remnants, and by these are meant everything good and true which the Lord instills into a person from earliest childhood through to the final period of life. Such remnants are referred to in the verse that follows this. Twice ten, or two tens, that is, twenty, is similar in meaning to ten, but to a higher degree, namely that of good.

[2] Three kinds of goods are meant by 'remnants' - those instilled in earliest childhood, those instilled when want of knowledge is still present, and those instilled when intelligence is present. The goods of earliest childhood are those instilled into a person from birth up to the age when he starts to be taught and to know something. The goods received when want of knowledge is still present are instilled when he is being taught and starting to know something. The goods that come with intelligence are instilled when he is able to reflect on what good is and what truth is. Good instilled in earliest childhood is received up to his tenth year.

[3] Good instilled when want of knowledge is still present is instilled from then until his twentieth year; and from this year the person starts to become rational and to have the ability to reflect on good and truth, and to acquire the good received when intelligence is present. The good instilled when want of knowledge is still present is that which is meant by 'twenty', because those with whom merely that good exists do not enter into any temptation. For no one undergoes temptation until he is able to reflect on and to perceive in his own way what good and truth are. Those who have acquired goods by means of temptations were the subject in the two verses previous to this, while in the present verse the subject is those who do not undergo temptations but who nevertheless possess good.

[4] It is because these who possess the good called 'good instilled during want of knowledge' are meant by 'twenty' that all those who had come out of Egypt were included in the census - from 'a son of twenty years and over', and who, as it is stated, were every one 'going into the army'- by whom were meant those whose good was no longer merely that instilled during want of knowledge, referred to in Numbers 1:20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 38, 40, 42, 45; 26:4. It is also said that all who were over twenty years of age died in the wilderness, Numbers 14:29; 32:10-11, because evil could be attributed to them, and because they represented those who yield in temptations. Also the value set for a male who was between five years of age and twenty years was twenty sheckels, Leviticus 27:5, whereas a different value was set for one between twenty years old and sixty, namely fifty shekels, Leviticus 27:3.

[5] As regards the nature of these different kinds of goods - those instilled in earliest childhood, those when want of knowledge is still present, and those when intelligence is present - the last of these is the best, since it is an attribute of wisdom. The good which precedes it, namely that instilled during want of knowledge, is indeed good, but because it has only a small amount of intelligence within it, it cannot be called the good of wisdom. The good that belongs to earliest childhood is indeed in itself good, but it is nevertheless less good than the other two kinds, because it has not as yet had any truth of intelligence allied to it, and so has not become in any way the good of wisdom, but is merely a plane enabling it to become such. Cognitions of truth and good are what enable a person to be wise in the way possible to man. Earliest childhood itself, by which is meant innocence, does not belong to earliest childhood but to wisdom, as may become clearer from what will be stated at the end of this chapter about young children in the next life.

[6] In this verse 'twenty' means no other kind of good, as has been stated, than the good that belongs to not knowing. This good is a characteristic not only, as has been stated, of those under twenty years of age but also of all with whom the good of charity exists but who at the same time have no knowledge of truth. The latter consists of those inside the Church with whom the good of charity exists but who, for whatever reason, do not know what the truth of faith is - as is the case with the majority of those who think about God with reverence and think what is good about the neighbor - and also of all those outside the Church called gentiles who in a similar way lead lives abiding in the good of charity. Though the truths of faith do not exist with such persons outside the Church and inside it, nevertheless because good does so, they have the capacity, no less than young children do, to receive the truths of faith. For the understanding part of their mind has not yet been corrupted by false assumptions nor has the will part been so confirmed by a life of evil, for they do not know what falsity and evil are. Furthermore the life of charity is of such a nature that the falsity and evil that go with want of knowledge can be turned without difficulty towards what is true and good. This is not so in the case of those who have confirmed themselves in things contrary to the truth and who at the same time have led a life immersed in things contrary to good.

[7] In other places in the Word 'two-tenths' means good, both celestial and spiritual. Celestial good and spiritual good derived from this are meant by the two-tenths from which each loaf of the shewbread or of the Presence was made, Leviticus 24:5, while spiritual good was meant by the two-tenths constituting the minchah that accompanied the sacrifice of a ram, Numbers 15:6; 28:12, 20, 28; 29:3, 9, 14. These matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere.

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