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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

2 And he was very rich in possession of gold and silver.

3 And he returned by the way that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai:

4 In the place of the altar which he had made before; and there he called upon the name of the Lord.

5 But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents.

6 Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together.

7 Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country.

8 Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are brethren.

9 Behold the whole land is before thee: depart from me I pray thee: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.

10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor.

11 And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other.

12 Abram dwelt in the land of Chanaan; and Lot abode in the towns that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom.

13 And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord, beyond measure.

14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west.

15 All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also.

17 Arise and walk through the land in the length, and in the breadth thereof: for I will give it to thee.

18 So Abram removing his tent came and dwelt by the vale of Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1582

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1582. 'If you go to the left then I will go to the right, and if you go to the right I will go to the left' means separation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the right' and of 'the left'. Right and left are purely relative terms, for neither of them is a definite region or definite place, as becomes clear from the fact that east and west, and south and north, can be to the right or to the left depending on the direction towards which a person is looking. So too with regard to a place. Nor could 'to the right' or 'to the left' be used of the land of Canaan except as relative terms. Wherever the Lord is, that is the centre, and right and left are reckoned from there. Thus whether Abram, who represented the Lord, moved in this direction or in that, his representative character went with him. And the same was true of the land, whether Abram was in the land of Canaan or whether he was somewhere else. It is like the most distinguished person at table. The place where he sits is the most important, and the other places are to the right and left of it. 'Going to the right or to the left' therefore was a phrase expressing a right of choice and by which was meant separation.

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