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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram goeth up from Egypt (he and his wife, and all that he hath, and Lot with him) towards the south;

2 and Abram [is] exceedingly wealthy in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he goeth on his journeyings from the south, even unto Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the commencement, between Bethel and Hai --

4 unto the place of the altar which he made there at the first, and there doth Abram preach in the name of Jehovah.

5 And also to Lot, who is going with Abram, there hath been sheep and oxen and tents;

6 and the land hath not suffered them to dwell together, for their substance hath been much, and they have not been able to dwell together;

7 and there is a strife between those feeding Abram's cattle and those feeding Lot's cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite [are] then dwelling in the land.

8 And Abram saith unto Lot, `Let there not, I pray thee, be strife between me and thee, and between my shepherds and thy shepherds, for we [are] men -- brethren.

9 Is not all the land before thee? be parted, I pray thee, from me; if to the left, then I to the right; and if to the right, then I to the left.'

10 And Lot lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the whole circuit of the Jordan that it [is] all a watered country (before Jehovah's destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as Jehovah's garden, as the land of Egypt,) in thy coming toward Zoar,

11 and Lot chooseth for himself the whole circuit of the Jordan; and Lot journeyeth from the east, and they are parted -- a man from his companion;

12 Abram hath dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot hath dwelt in the cities of the circuit, and tenteth unto Sodom;

13 and the men of Sodom [are] evil, and sinners before Jehovah exceedingly.

14 And Jehovah said unto Abram, after Lot's being parted from him, `Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and look from the place where thou [art], northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward;

15 for the whole of the land which thou are seeing, to thee I give it, and to thy seed -- to the age.

16 And I have set thy seed as dust of the earth, so that, if one is able to number the dust of the earth, even thy seed is numbered;

17 rise, go up and down through the land, to its length, and to its breadth, for to thee I give it.'

18 And Abram tenteth, and cometh, and dwelleth among the oaks of Mamre, which [are] in Hebron, and buildeth there an altar to Jehovah.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1571

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1571. That 'there was strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen' means that the internal man and the external did not agree is clear from the meaning of 'herdsmen' 1 as those who teach, and so things that are connected with worship, as everyone may well know, and therefore there is no need to pause and confirm these matters from the Word. These words have regard to the things called 'tents' in verse 5 above, which, as pointed out there, mean worship. The words used in the following verse 6 have regard to things called 'flocks and cattle' in verse 5, which are possessions or acquisitions, as was also pointed out there. Because worship is the subject here, namely that of the Internal Man and of the external Man, it is said here, since the two were no longer in agreement, that 'there was strife between the herdsman'; for 'Abram' represents the internal man and 'Lot' the external man. It is above all in worship that one can recognize the whole nature of any disagreement that exists between the internal man and the external man; indeed it can be recognized in every detail of worship. When the internal man wishes to make the kingdom of God his ends in view and the external wishes to make the world his, there is consequently a divergence which shows itself in worship, and indeed so plainly that even the slightest divergence is noticed in heaven. These are the considerations meant by 'strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsman'. And the reason is added, namely that 'the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then in the land'.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The same word (pastor) is used for a herdsman as for a shepherd.

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