Die Bibel

 

Genesis 15

Lernen

   

1 After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

6 And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9 And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.

11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

18 In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

20 and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

21 and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #1846

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

1846. 'And these will afflict them' means their grievous temptations. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'afflicting' or affliction as persecution and therefore as temptation. In the Word of the Lord nothing else is meant by 'affliction', as in Isaiah,

I will refine you, but not with silver; I will single you out in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10.

'Affliction' stands for temptation.

In Moses,

You shall remember all the way in which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness to afflict you and to tempt you. Jehovah fed you with manna in the wilderness, which your fathers did not know, to afflict you and to tempt you, to do good to you in [your] latter end. Deuteronomy 8:2, 16.

'To afflict' plainly means to tempt.

[2] In the same author,

And the Egyptians ill-treated us and afflicted us, and imposed hard service upon us, and we cried out to Jehovah the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. Deuteronomy 26:6-7.

Here the same things are mentioned as in the present verse, that they served as slaves and were afflicted, by which - as also by their afflictions in the wilderness, which in addition represented the Lord's temptations - the temptations of believers were meant.

[3] As in Isaiah,

He was despised, a man of sorrows, on account of which as it were men hid their faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:3-4.

These words mean the Lord's temptations. The words 'He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows' are not used to mean that believers will not undergo any temptation, nor that He transferred their sins on to Himself and so bore them Himself. Rather, they mean that He who overcame the hells through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories would in the same manner - all by Himself, even as to His Human Essence - endure the temptations experienced by believers.

[4] The Lord too calls temptations afflictions: in Mark,

These are the ones sown upon rocky ground. When they have heard the word they have no root in themselves but endure for a while. Then, when affliction and persecution arise because of the word they immediately stumble. Mark 4:16-17.

'Affliction' clearly stands for temptation. 'Having no root in themselves' is having no charity, for it is in charity that faith is rooted, and those who are not endowed with that root give way in temptations. In John,

In the world you have affliction; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33.

'Affliction' stands for temptation.

[5] In Matthew,

Nation will be roused against nation and kingdom against kingdom. All these are the start of sorrows. At that time they will deliver you up to affliction. There will be great affliction then such as has not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened. Matthew 24:7-9, 21, 29.

This refers to the close of the age, or last times of a Church. 'Affliction' stands for temptations, external and internal, external temptations being persecutions by the world, internal by the devil. The non-existence of charity is meant by 'nation against nation' and 'kingdom against kingdom', and by 'the sun' - that is, the Lord, love and charity - being 'darkened'.

  
/ 10837  
  

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