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Genesis 16

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1 Doch Sarai, Abrams huisvrouw, baarde hem niet; en zij had een Egyptische dienstmaagd, welker naam was Hagar.

2 Zo zeide Sarai tot Abram: Zie toch, de HEERE heeft mij toegesloten, dat ik niet bare; ga toch in tot mijn dienstmaagd, misschien zal ik uit haar gebouwd worden. En Abram hoorde naar de stem van Sarai.

3 Zo nam Sarai, Abrams huisvrouw, de Egyptische Hagar, haar dienstmaagd, ten einde van tien jaren, welke Abram in het land Kanaan gewoond had, en zij gaf haar aan Abram, haar man, hem tot een vrouw.

4 En hij ging in tot Hagar, en zij ontving. Als zij nu zag, dat zij ontvangen had, zo werd haar vrouw veracht in haar ogen.

5 Toen zeide Sarai tot Abram: Mijn ongelijk is op u; ik heb mijn dienstmaagd in uw schoot gegeven; nu zij ziet, dat zij ontvangen heeft, zo ben ik veracht in haar ogen; de HEERE rechte tussen mij en tussen u!

6 En Abram zeide tot Sarai: Zie uw dienstmaagd is in uw hand; doe haar, wat goed is in uw ogen. En Sarai vernederde haar, en zij vluchtte van haar aangezicht.

7 En de Engel des HEEREN vond haar aan een waterfontein in de woestijn, aan de fontein op den weg van Sur.

8 En hij zeide: Hagar, gij, dienstmaagd van Sarai! van waar komt gij, en waar zult gij heengaan? En zij zeide: Ik ben vluchtende van het aangezicht mijner vrouw Sarai!

9 Toen zeide de Engel des HEEREN tot haar: Keer weder tot uw vrouw, en verneder u onder haar handen.

10 Voorts zeide de Engel des HEEREN tot haar: Ik zal uw zaad grotelijks vermenigvuldigen, zodat het vanwege de menigte niet zal geteld worden.

11 Ook zeide des HEEREN Engel tot haar: Zie, gij zijt zwanger, en zult een zoon baren, en gij zult zijn naam Ismael noemen, omdat de HEERE uw verdrukking aangehoord heeft.

12 En hij zal een woudezel van een mens zijn; zijn hand zal tegen allen zijn, en de hand van allen tegen hem; en hij zal wonen voor het aangezicht van al zijn broederen.

13 En zij noemde den Naam des HEEREN, Die tot haar sprak: Gij, God des aanziens! want zij zeide: Heb ik ook hier gezien naar Dien, Die mij aanziet?

14 Daarom noemde men dien put, den put Lachai-Roi; ziet, hij is tussen Kades en tussen Bered.

15 En Hagar baarde Abram een zoon; en Abram noemde den naam zijns zoons, die Hagar gebaard had, Ismael.

16 En Abram was zes en tachtig jaren oud, toen Hagar Ismael aan Abram baarde.

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #1911

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1911. 'And she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes' means that this rational at its conception despised truth itself that was allied to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'mistress', or Sarai, as truth allied to good. The rational conceived first is unable to acknowledge intellectual or spiritual truth as truth because it has clinging to it many illusions that are a product of what is known about the world and the natural order, and many appearances which are not truths but are a product of things known from the literal sense of the Word. For example,

[2] It is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not apprehend this, but supposes that if it did not live of itself it would possess no life at all; indeed it is angry if anything different is asserted, as I have noticed frequently in the case of spirits who cling to the illusions of the senses.

[3] It is an intellectual truth that all good and truth are from the Lord. Again, the rational conceived first does not apprehend this because of its sensation that these are as if from itself; and also it supposes that if good and truth are not from itself, it is unable to think, let alone perform, anything good and true, and that if it did have some other source it would give up its own efforts and constantly wait for influx into itself.

[4] It is an intellectual truth that nothing but good, and not even the smallest amount of evil, comes from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not believe this either, but it supposes that because the Lord rules over every single thing, even evil derives from Him. And because He is all powerful and present everywhere and is Goodness itself but does not abolish the punishments of evil people in hell, it supposes that He wills the evil of punishment, when in fact He does not do evil to anyone and does not will that anyone should be punished.

[5] It is an intellectual truth that the celestial man has from the Lord a perception of good and truth. But the first rational either denies the existence of perception altogether or else it supposes that if it did perceive from another and not from its own self it would be like one who is inanimate, or devoid of life. Indeed the more that the thinking of the rational is based on the facts that arise from sensory evidence and the more it is based on philosophical arguments, the less it apprehends these and all other intellectual truths, for the illusions that result are enveloped in shadows darker still. This is why the learned are less believing than others.

[6] Since the rational conceived first is such, it is clear that 'it despises its mistress', that is, it despises intellectual truth. Intellectual truth is not open to view, that is, it is not acknowledged, until illusions and appearances have been dispersed, and these are never dispersed as long as a person reasons about truths themselves on the basis of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. But the moment he believes in simplicity of heart that it is the truth because the Lord has declared it to be so, the shadows of illusions are at that point dispelled, and then there is nothing to stop him apprehending it.

[7] With the Lord however no illusions were present; but when His rational was first conceived there were appearances of truth which were not truths in themselves, as is evident from what has been stated in 1661. This also explains why His rational when first conceived despised intellectual truth, but step by step, as the rational became Divine, the clouds of appearances were dispersed and intellectual truths in their light were for Him open to view. This was represented and meant by the expulsion of Ishmael from the house when Isaac grew up. That the Lord did not despise intellectual truth but that He perceived and saw that His new rational did so will be clear from what follows in 1914.

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