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Genesis 26

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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.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 3427

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3427. 'And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him' means an attitude of denial on account of those things, and also others, as being contrary to those persons, and on account of more things besides. This is clear from the fact that names given in early times were meaningful signs of a thing or of a state, 3422. In this way they were enabled to recollect many details about that thing or state, especially its essential nature. Here the well took its name from the incident of the herdsmen of Gerar disputing with Isaac's herdsmen. The fact that 'disputing' or 'contending' also means an attitude of denial, see 3425. This is the origin of the name Esek which in the original language means contention or dispute, and is derived from a related word which means oppression and violence. And since 'a well' here means the Word as regards the literal sense which holds the internal sense, 'Esek' or contention means a denial of the existence of the internal sense of the Word. The same word also includes the reasons for such denial, which, it is evident, lie with those things described just above in 3425, that is to say, things that appear to be contraries and with other things also.

[2] Thus the position with the internal sense of the Word is that those in whom no more than a knowledge of cognitions exists, who are referred to as 'the Philistines', and those in whom no more than matters of doctrine concerning faith are present, who are called 'the herdsmen of the Valley of Gerar', and with whom no charity towards the neighbour exists, inevitably refuse to recognize the existence of the internal sense of the Word. There are several reasons why they do so, the chief of which is that they do not acknowledge the Lord in their hearts, however much they confess Him with their lips. Nor in their hearts do they love the neighbour, however much they outwardly declare their love towards him. And anyone who in his heart does not acknowledge the Lord and does not in his heart love the neighbour inevitably refuses to recognize the internal sense of the Word, for the Word does not in the internal sense have anything else as its subject than love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, on account of which the Lord says that on those two commandments depend the Law and the Prophets, that is, the whole Word, Matthew 22:37-40. I have also been allowed to see the extent to which those people do not recognize the internal sense of the Word from those who are like them in the next life. At the mere mention of the existence of the internal sense of the Word, which is not apparent in its literal sense, and of the fact that its subject is love to the Lord and towards the neighbour, not only is denial of its existence noticeable in those people but also repugnance and even loathing.

[3] This is the chief reason. A second reason is that they turn the Word completely upside down by placing the bottom on top, or what amounts to the same, making what is secondary primary. Indeed they set up faith as the essential thing of the Church, and the things that constitute love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour as the fruits of faith. But the truth is that if love to the Lord is compared to the tree of life in the paradise of Eden, charity and its works are the fruits from it, while faith and everything that is part of faith are merely the leaves. When therefore people so turn the Word upside down that they derive the fruit not from the tree but from the leaves, it is not surprising that they fail to recognize the internal sense of the Word and acknowledge merely its literal sense. For as is well known. the literal sense can be used to confirm any dogma, including the most heretical.

[4] A further reason why they do not recognize the internal sense is that the faith of people who are concerned solely with matters of doctrine concerning faith and not with goodness of life is inevitably persuasion of what is false, that is, it is a faith based on false assumptions as well as true ones. As a consequence they are more stupid than all others, for insofar as anyone is persuaded by what is false he is stupid, but insofar as anyone is concerned with goodness of life, that is, with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, he has intelligence, that is, faith from the Lord. Consequently the former cannot do other than have a negative attitude regarding the internal sense of the Word, whereas the latter cannot do other than have a positive attitude. For the interiors of people who have merely a knowledge of matters of doctrine and are devoid of the good of life are closed, so much so that the light of truth from the Lord cannot flow in and enable them to discern that it is so, whereas the interiors of those in whom love to the Lord exists are open, so much so that the light of truth from the Lord can flow in, inspire their minds with affection, and enable them to discern that it is so.

[5] There is yet another reason why they do not take any delight in reading the Word, except to gain position and wealth, and a reputation on account of these things - which delight is the delight that goes with self-love and love of the world. So true is this that if such gains are not to be had they reject the Word altogether. Such people in their hearts refuse to recognize not only the internal sense of the Word when they hear about it but also the literal sense itself, no matter how much they imagine they do believe in it. For anyone whose end in view is the delight that goes with self-love and love of the world casts out of his heart altogether everything that has to do with eternal life, and speaks from his natural and bodily-minded man when he speaks about the kind of things that he calls truths not for the sake of the Lord and of His kingdom but for the sake of himself and those who are his own. These and many other considerations are what cause people called 'the herdsmen of the Valley of Gerar' and 'the Philistines' to refuse to recognize the internal sense of the Word.

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