Arcana Coelestia # 3447
3447. 'Abimelech went to him from Gerar' means the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts. This is clear from the representation of 'Abimelech' as the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts, dealt with in 2504, 2509, 2510, 3391, 3393, 3398, and from the meaning of 'Gerar' as faith, dealt with in 1209, 2504, 3365, 3384, 3385. For what doctrine having regard to rational concepts is, see 3368. From here to verse 33 the subject has to do with those among whom the literal sense of the Word and from this matters of doctrine concerning faith exist, and with the agreement of those matters of doctrine, insofar as they are drawn from the literal sense, with the internal sense; for 'Abimelech, and Ahuzzath his companion, and Phicol the commander of his army' represent those matters of doctrine. They are those who make faith the essential thing, and who, though they do not reject charity, rank it below faith, and so rate doctrine above life. Almost all our Churches today are like this, with the exception of that which exists in Christian Gentilism where people are allowed to venerate saints and images of them.
[2] As within every Church that is the Lord's some people are internal and others are external - the internal being those whose affection is for good, the external those whose affection is for truth - so it is also with those who are represented here by Abimelech, his companion, and the commander of his army. Those who are internal have been dealt with already in Chapter 21:22-33, where it is said of Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army that they came to Abraham and made a covenant with him in Beersheba, see 2719, 2720. But those who are external are dealt with here.
Genesis 26
1
There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2
Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
3
Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4
I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,
5
because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
7
The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at."
8
It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9
Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'"
10
Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"
11
Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."
12
Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.
13
The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.
14
He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
15
Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
16
Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."
17
Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18
Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19
Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20
The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21
They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah.
22
He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."
23
He went up from there to Beersheba.
24
Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."
25
He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well.
26
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.
27
Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?"
28
They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,
29
that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh."
30
He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31
They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32
It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."
33
He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34
When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
