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Genesis 22

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1 And it came to pass after these things, that God tempted Abraham, and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will name to thee.

3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and cleft the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose and went to the place which God had named to him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said to his young men, Abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and return to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife: and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had named to him; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order; and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing to him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld from me thy son, thy only son.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it will be seen.

15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven the second time,

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told to Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also borne children to thy brother Nahor;

21 Huz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah bore to Nahor Abraham's brother.

24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bore also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10483

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10483. 'And Moses stood in the gate of the camp' means where the opening to hell is situated. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the internal, dealt with above in 10468; from the meaning of 'in the gate' as where the opening is situated, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the camp' as hell, also dealt with above, in 10458. The reason why Moses stood in the gate of the camp and did not go inside the actual camp was in order that the impossibility for the internal to enter hell might be represented; for Moses represented the internal and the camp represented hell. The interest of all those in hell lies in external things separated from what is internal, because self-love and love of the world rule within them. Therefore what is internal cannot go in there since it is not received. Instead some who are there immediately reject it, some smother it and snuff it out, and some pervert it. Whether you say the internal or heaven, it amounts to the same thing; for heaven constitutes what is internal, not only the internal side of the Word but also the internal side of the Church and of worship, consequently the internal of the person who has celestial and spiritual love reigning within him, that is, love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour.

[2] What hell's opening is, meant by 'the gate' of this camp, must be stated briefly. Each hell is closed all the way around it, but it is opened above as necessity and need demand. It is an opening into the world of spirits, the world that lies midway between heaven and hell; for that world serves as the upper boundary of the hells and as the lower boundary of the heavens, 5852. The reason for saying that they are opened as necessity and need demand is that each person in the world has spirits present with him from hell, and angels from heaven. The spirits from hell are present in his bodily and worldly loves, and the angels from heaven in those which are celestial and spiritual; for without the spirits the person can have no life at all. If the spirits were taken away from him he would drop dead as a stone. Consequently to enable a person to lead a life in keeping with his loves the hells are opened of necessity and as need demands, and from there such spirits come out to him as are ruled by loves similar to his.

[3] That opening is what should be understood by the gate of hell. I have been allowed several times to see such openings. They are gates which the Lord guards by means of angels, to stop more spirits than are needed from coming out of there. From this it is evident what 'the gates of hell' and 'the gates of enemies' mean in the Word, as in Matthew,

Jesus said to Peter, On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18.

'The gates of hell will not prevail' means that the hells will not dare to come out and destroy the truths of faith, 'the rock' on which the Church stands being faith in the Lord received from the Lord. This faith is the faith of charity because it is rooted in charity and for that reason makes one with it.

'The rock' means that faith, see Preface to Genesis 22, and also 8581, 10438.

Real faith consists in charity, 654, 1162, 1176, 1608, 2228, 2343, 2349, 2419, 2839, 3324, 4368, 6348, 7039, 7623-7627, 7752-7762, 8530, 9154, 9783, 9924.

[4] The like is also meant by your seed will inherit the gate of their enemies, Genesis 22:17; 24:60. 'Inheriting the gate of their enemies' means destroying evils and falsities which come from hell. This was also represented by driving out and destroying the nations in the land of Canaan; for the nations there represented evils and falsities which come from hell, see 1573, 1574, 1868, 4818, 6306, 8054, 8317, 9320, 9327.

Also in David,

Those who dwell in the gate plot against me; those who drink strong wine sing songs. Psalms 69:12.

In the same author,

Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver. They will not be put to shame, for they will speak with enemies in the gate. Psalms 127:5.

'Gates' in the good sense however stands for the opening into heaven.

In David,

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O eternal doors, and the King of glory will come in. Psalms 24:7-10.

In addition admission into heaven and into the Church through truth and good is meant in the Word by 'gates', and also good and truth flowing in and present with a person.

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