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Génesis 15

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1 DESPUÉS de estas cosas fué la palabra de Jehová á Abram en visión, diciendo: No temas, Abram; yo soy tu escudo, y tu galardón sobremanera grande.

2 Y respondió Abram: Señor Jehová ¿qué me has de dar, siendo así que ando sin hijo, y el mayordomo de mi casa es ese Damasceno Eliezer?

3 Dijo más Abram: Mira que no me has dado prole, y he aquí que es mi heredero uno nacido en mi casa.

4 Y luego la palabra de Jehová fué á él diciendo: No te heredará éste, sino el que saldrá de tus entrañas será el que te herede.

5 Y sacóle fuera, y dijo: Mira ahora á los cielos, y cuenta las estrellas, si las puedes contar. Y le dijo: Así será tu simiente.

6 Y creyó á Jehová, y contóselo por justicia.

7 Y díjole: Yo soy Jehová, que te saqué de Ur de los Caldeos, para darte á heredar esta tierra.

8 Y él respondió: Señor Jehová ¿en qué conoceré que la tengo de heredar?

9 Y le dijo: Apártame una becerra de tres años, y una cabra de tres años, y un carnero de tres años, una tórtola también, y un palomino.

10 Y tomó él todas estas cosas, y partiólas por la mitad, y puso cada mitad una enfrente de otra; mas no partió las aves.

11 Y descendían aves sobre los cuerpos muertos, y ojeábalas Abram.

12 Mas á la caída del sol sobrecogió el sueño á Abram, y he aquí que el pavor de una grande obscuridad cayó sobre él.

13 Entonces dijo á Abram: Ten por cierto que tu simiente será peregrina en tierra no suya, y servirá á los de allí, y serán por ellos afligidos cuatrocientos años.

14 Mas también á la gente á quien servirán, juzgaré yo; y después de esto saldrán con grande riqueza.

15 Y tú vendrás á tus padres en paz, y serás sepultado en buena vejez.

16 Y en la cuarta generación volverán acá: porque aun no está cumplida la maldad del Amorrheo hasta aquí.

17 Y sucedió que puesto el sol, y ya obscurecido, dejóse ver un horno humeando, y una antorcha de fuego que pasó por entre los animales divididos.

18 En aquel día hizo Jehová un pacto con Abram diciendo: A tu simiente daré esta tierra desde el río de Egipto hasta el río grande, el río Eufrates;

19 Los Cineos, y los Ceneceos, y los Cedmoneos,

20 Y los Hetheos, y los Pherezeos, y los Raphaitas,

21 Y los Amorrheos, y los Cananeos, y los Gergeseos, y los Jebuseos.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 444

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444. "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. This symbolically means, to remove from them external bonds, to enable the interiors of their minds to appear.

It is impossible for anyone to know that this is the symbolic meaning of these words, and scarcely possible for anyone to suspect it, if he does not know what is meant by the great river Euphrates, and by the four angels bound there.

In the Word, the Euphrates symbolizes the inner constituents of the human mind, called rational, which in people governed by truths springing from goodness are full of wisdom, but which in people caught up in falsities springing from evil are full of irrationality.

This is the symbolic meaning of the river Euphrates in the Word. The reason is that this river formed the boundary between the land of Canaan and Assyria, and the land of Canaan symbolized the church, and Assyria its rational component. Therefore the river that formed the boundary between them symbolizes the inner constituents of the mind called rational, and this in both senses. For there are three components that form the person of the church: the spiritual component; the rational or intellectual component; and the natural component, which is one of knowledge. The spiritual component of the church is symbolized by the land of Canaan and its rivers; the rational or intellectual component of the church by Asshur or Assyria and its river, the Euphrates; and the natural component of the church, which is one of knowledge, by Egypt and its river, the Nile. But for more on this subject, see no. 503 below.

The four angels bound at the river Euphrates symbolize these interior constituents in people of the church, and they are said to be bound because they are kept hidden from public view. For it is hellish spirits that are meant by these four angels, inasmuch as we are told that they were prepared to kill a third of mankind, as we will presently see in no. 446; and people's inner constituents are affiliated with spirits, either hellish ones or heavenly ones, since they dwell together. To release them means, symbolically, to remove external bonds, to enable the interiors of their minds to appear.

This is the symbolic meaning of these words.

[2] That the Euphrates symbolizes the interiors of a person's mind coextensive with the spiritual tenets of his church can be seen from passages in the Word where Asshur or Assyria are mentioned. In the following passages, however, the Euphrates occurs in an opposite sense, in which it symbolizes interiors full of falsities and thus insanities:

...behold, (God) is causing to rise up upon them the waters of the River (Euphrates), strong and mighty - the king of Asshur... It will pass through Judah, flood it and pass over it... (Isaiah 8:7-8)

...why take the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? (Jeremiah 2:18)

Jehovah will devote to destruction the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; ...He will shake His hand over the River (Euphrates).... (Isaiah 11:15-16)

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the... river Euphrates, and its water was dried up... (Revelation 16:12)

The prophet Jeremiah was commanded to put a sash around his loins, and afterward to hide it in a hole in a rock by the Euphrates; and when, after a short time, he recovered it, behold, it was ruined and profitable for nothing (Jeremiah 13:1-7, 11).

The same prophet was also commanded, after he had finished reading a book, to throw it into the middle of the Euphrates and say, "Thus shall Babylon sink and not rise" (Jeremiah 51:63-64).

These events represented the interior qualities of the state of the church among the children of Israel.

That the river Nile in Egypt and the river Euphrates in Assyria were boundaries of the land of Canaan is apparent from the following verse:

...Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river... Euphrates." (Genesis 15:18)

To be shown that the Euphrates was one boundary, see Exodus 23:31, Deuteronomy 1:7-8; 11:24, Joshua 1:4, Micah 7:12.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.