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Genesis 13

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1 og Abram drog atter med sin Hustru og al sin Ejendom fra Ægypten op til Sydlandet, og Lot drog med ham.

2 Abram var meget rig på kvæghjorde, Sølv og Guld;

3 og han vandrede fra Lejrplads til Lejrplads og nåede fra Sydlandet til Betel, til det Sted, hvor hans Teltlejr havde stået første Gang, mellem Betel og Aj,

4 til det Sted, hvor han forrige Gang havde rejst et Alter; og Abram påkaldte der HE ENs Navn.

5 Og Lot, der drog med Abram, ejede ligeledes Småkvæg, Hornkvæg og Telte.

6 Men Landet formåede ikke at rumme dem, så de kunde bo sammen; thi deres Hjorde var for store til, at de kunde bo sammen.

7 Da opstod der Strid mellem Abrams og Lots Hyrder; det var dengang Kana'anæerne og Perizziterne boede i Landet.

8 Abram sagde derfor til Lot: "Der må ikke være Strid mellem os to eller mellem mine og dine Hyrder, vi er jo Frænder!

9 Ligger ikke hele Landet dig åbent? Skil dig hellere fra mig; vil du til venstre, så går jeg til højre, og vil du til højre, så går jeg til venstre!"

10 Da så Lot sig omkring, og da han så, at hele Jordanegnen (det var før HE EN ødelagde Sodoma og Gomorra) var vandrig som HE ENs Have, som Ægyptens Land, hen ad Zoar til,

11 valgte han sig hele Jordanegnen. Så brød Lot op og drog østerpå, og de skiltes,

12 idet Abram slog sig ned i Kana'ans Land, medens Lot slog sig ned i Jordanegnens Byer og drog med sine Telte fra Sted til Sted helt hen til Sodoma.

13 Men Mændene i Sodoma var ugudelige og store Syndere mod HE EN.

14 Efter at Lot havde skilt sig fra Abram, sagde HE EN til denne: "Løft dit Blik og se dig om der, hvor du står, mod Nord, mod Syd, mod Øst og mod Vest;

15 thi hele det Land, du ser, vil jeg give dig og dit Afkom til evig Tid,

16 og jeg vil gøre dit Afkom som Jordens Støv, så at det lige så lidt skal kunne tælles, som nogen kan tælle Jordens Støv.

17 Drag nu gennem Landet på Kryds og tværs, thi dig giver jeg det!"

18 Så drog Abram fra Sted til Sted med sine Telte og kom til Mamres Lund i Hebron, hvor han slog sig ned og byggede HE EN et Alter.

   

The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Apocalypse Revealed #502

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502. Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. This symbolizes the two hellish loves, namely, a love of ruling springing from a love of self, and a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, loves which are present in the church where there is not one God and where the Lord is not worshiped, and where people do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

Sodom symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, a love of ruling springing from a love of self, as we shall presently see; and Egypt symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, as we shall also presently see. So, because these two loves are symbolized, therefore the city is called, spiritually speaking, Sodom and Egypt.

These two loves are present in the church where there is not one God and where the Lord is not worshiped, and where people do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, because people are born with these two loves, and they come into them as they grow up. Nor can these loves be removed except by God the Savior and by a life in accordance with His commandments, and God cannot remove them unless people turn to Him, and neither is a life in accordance with His commandments possible unless a person is led by Him. Actually it is possible, but not a life that contains anything of heaven and so of the church.

A life like that is possible only from Him who is life. That the Lord is that life may be seen in John 1:1, 4; 5:26; 6:33-35ff., 11:25-26; 14:6, 19, and in many other places.

[2] A love of ruling springing from a love of self, and a love of holding sway from a conceit in one's own intelligence, are the principal loves of all the loves in hell, and so are the origin of all the evils and thus of all the falsities in the church. This is something unknown at the present day. The delights of these loves, which surpass the delights of all the heart's pleasures, cause it to be unknown, even though they are, spiritually, Sodom and Egypt.

That Sodom is a love of ruling springing from a love of self can be seen from the description of Sodom in Genesis, where we are told that when angels arrived there, the inhabitants tried to forcibly assault them at the house of Lot, and that fire and brimstone rained down on them from heaven (Genesis 19:1ff.). Fire and brimstone symbolize that love, together with its appetites.

I saw similar sights when cities and societies of people like that were overthrown at the time of the Last Judgment and their inhabitants cast into hell.

These loves and their accompanying evils are symbolized by Sodom and Gomorrah in the following passages: Isaiah 1:10; 3:8-9; 13:19.

[3] That this love is symbolically meant by Sodom is unknown in the world, but remember it and recall it when you come after death into the world of spirits and you will be completely convinced.

It should be known, however, that a love of ruling springing from a love of self and a love of ruling springing from a love of performing useful services are two different things. The latter love is a heavenly love, while the first is a hellish one. Consequently, when one is in first place, the other is in last place; which is to say, when a love of ruling springing from a love of self forms the head, then a love of ruling springing from a love of performing useful services - which is a love of serving the neighbor originating from the Lord - forms first the feet, then the soles of the feet, and finally is trampled underfoot.

On the other hand, when a love of ruling springing from a love of performing useful services - which, as we said, is a heavenly love - forms the head, then a love of ruling springing from a love of self - which, as we said, is a hellish love - forms first the feet, then the soles of the feet, and finally is trampled underfoot.

Still, these two loves can hardly be distinguished by a person in the world. That is because in outward appearance they are similar. But they can be told apart by this, that a heavenly love is present in people who turn to the Lord and live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, while a hellish love is present in people who do not turn to the Lord, and who do not live in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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