Genesis 26
1
And there is a famine in the land, besides the first famine which was in the days of Abraham, and Isaac goeth unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2
And Jehovah appeareth unto him, and saith, `Go not down towards Egypt, tabernacle in the land concerning which I speak unto thee,
3
sojourn in this land, and I am with thee, and bless thee, for to thee and to thy seed I give all these lands, and I have established the oath which I have sworn to Abraham thy father;
4
and I have multiplied thy seed as stars of the heavens, and I have given to thy seed all these lands; and blessed themselves in thy seed have all nations of the earth;
5
because that Abraham hath hearkened to My voice, and keepeth My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws.'
6
And Isaac dwelleth in Gerar;
7
and men of the place ask him of his wife, and he saith, `She [is] my sister:' for he hath been afraid to say, `My wife -- lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, for she [is] of good appearance.'
8
And it cometh to pass, when the days have been prolonged to him there, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looketh through the window, and seeth, and lo, Isaac is playing with Rebekah his wife.
9
And Abimelech calleth for Isaac, and saith, `Lo, she [is] surely thy wife; and how hast thou said, She [is] my sister?' and Isaac saith unto him, `Because I said, Lest I die for her.'
10
And Abimelech saith, `What [is] this thou hast done to us? as a little thing one of the people had lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us guilt;'
11
and Abimelech commandeth all the people, saying, `He who cometh against this man or against his wife, dying doth die.'
12
And Isaac soweth in that land, and findeth in that year a hundredfold, and Jehovah blesseth him;
13
and the man is great, and goeth on, going on and becoming great, till that he hath been very great,
14
and he hath possession of a flock, and possession of a herd, and an abundant service; and the Philistines envy him,
15
and all the wells which his father's servants digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines have stopped them, and fill them with dust.
16
And Abimelech saith unto Isaac, `Go from us; for thou hast become much mightier than we;'
17
and Isaac goeth from thence, and encampeth in the valley of Gerar, and dwelleth there;
18
and Isaac turneth back, and diggeth the wells of water which they digged in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines do stop after the death of Abraham, and he calleth to them names according to the names which his father called them.
19
And Isaac's servants dig in the valley, and find there a well of living water,
20
and shepherds of Gerar strive with shepherds of Isaac, saying, `The water [is] ours;' and he calleth the name of the well `Strife,' because they have striven habitually with him;
21
and they dig another well, and they strive also for it, and he calleth its name `Hatred.'
22
And he removeth from thence, and diggeth another well, and they have not striven for it, and he calleth its name Enlargements, and saith, `For -- now hath Jehovah given enlargement to us, and we have been fruitful in the land.'
23
And he goeth up from thence [to] Beer-Sheba,
24
and Jehovah appeareth unto him during that night, and saith, `I [am] the God of Abraham thy father, fear not, for I [am] with thee, and have blessed thee, and have multiplied thy seed, because of Abraham My servant;'
25
and he buildeth there an altar, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah, and stretcheth out there his tent, and there Isaac's servants dig a well.
26
And Abimelech hath gone unto him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol head of his host;
27
and Isaac saith unto them, `Wherefore have ye come unto me, and ye have hated me, and ye send me away from you?'
28
And they say, `We have certainly seen that Jehovah hath been with thee, and we say, `Let there be, we pray thee, an oath between us, between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
29
do not evil with us, as we have not touched thee, and as we have only done good with thee, and send thee away in peace; thou [art] now blessed of Jehovah.'
30
And he maketh for them a banquet, and they eat and drink,
31
and rise early in the morning, and swear one to another, and Isaac sendeth them away, and they go from him in peace.
32
And it cometh to pass during that day that Isaac's servants come and declare to him concerning the circumstances of the well which they have digged, and say to him, `We have found water;'
33
and he calleth it Shebah, [oath,] therefore the name of the city [is] Beer-Sheba, [well of the oath,] unto this day.
34
And Esau is a son of forty years, and he taketh a wife, Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite,
35
and they are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.
Arcana Coelestia # 2130
2130. As regards the second representation, that is to say, the idea of a Last Judgement which takes place before the eyes of the good when they are being admitted into heaven, let that too be described. In the Word it is said that the door was shut, so that they could no longer be admitted; and that they had no oil, arrived too late, and therefore were not admitted, statements which also mean a Last-Judgement state. The situation with these matters and how they are to be understood has been shown to me.
[2] I heard communities of spirits declaring in a clear voice, one community after another, that a wolf had wished to carry them off but that the Lord rescued them, and so they were restored to Him, and on that account rejoiced from the depths of their heart. Indeed they had been without hope, and so were afraid that the door had been shut, and that they had arrived too late to be admitted. Such thought had been instilled into them by those called wolves, but it vanished on their being admitted, that is, being received, by angelic communities. Being admitted into heaven is nothing else. The admission which I witnessed seemed to proceed continuously community by community, up to twelve of them, the admission, that is, the reception, of the twelfth being more difficult than that of the previous eleven. After that about eight more communities were also admitted, which, it was pointed out to me, were composed of females. Having witnessed all this I was told that this is how the process of admission, that is, of being received into heavenly communities is seen. They proceed in an orderly continuation from one place to another. I was also told that heaven can never be filled up, still less the door be shut, but that the more who enter, the more blessing and happiness there is for those in heaven, because their unanimity is made that much stronger.
[3] After these had been admitted it did at that point seem as though heaven was shut; for there were still more who wished after that to be admitted, that is, to be received. But they were told in reply that they could not yet be let in. This is meant by those arriving too late, by the door being shut, by their knocking, and by the statement about their having no oil in their lamps. The reason they were not admitted was that they were not yet ready to move among angelic communities where mutual love exists, for, as stated above towards the end of 2119, people who in the world have lived charitably disposed towards the neighbour are raised up by the Lord into heaven gradually.
[4] There were also other spirits who did not know what heaven is, namely mutual love, and who also at that time wished to be admitted. They imagined it was just a matter of being admitted. They received the reply however that it was not yet time for them, but that they would be admitted at another time when they were ready for it. The reason why twelve communities were seen was that 'twelve' means everything comprising faith, as stated above towards the end of 2129.
