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Genesis 17

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1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #2063

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2063. 'You will not call by her name Sarai, for Sarah will be her name' means that He will cast off the human and put on the Divine. This is clear from what has been stated at verse 5 above regarding Abraham, where it is said, 'No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham', words which in a similar way mean that He will cast off the human and put on the Divine, dealt with in 2009. Indeed the letter H added to Sarah's name was taken from the name of Jehovah, in order that Sarah, like Abraham, might represent the Lord's Divine, that is to say, in order that the Divine marriage of Good and Truth in the Lord might be represented - 'Abraham' being Divine Good and 'Sarah' Divine Truth. And from that marriage the Divine Rational, which is Isaac, was to be born.

[2] Divine Good, which in itself is love, and in relation to the entire human race is mercy, was the Lord's Internal, that is, Jehovah, who is Good itself. This Good is represented by 'Abraham'. Truth that was to be joined to Divine Good was represented by 'Sarai', but once this too has become Divine, it is represented by 'Sarah', for the Lord advanced towards union with Jehovah gradually, as mentioned in various places above. 'Sarai' represented truth not yet Divine - when it was still not so thoroughly united to Good that Good was the source of truth. But once it was so thoroughly united to Good that it stemmed from Good it was at that point Divine, and Truth itself was in that case also Good since it was truth inhering in Good. Truth tending towards good so that it may be united to good is one thing, while truth so united to good that it stems completely from good is another. Truth tending towards good is still drawing on something of what is human, but once it is united completely to good it casts aside everything that is human and takes on what is Divine.

[3] This matter, like others previously, can be illustrated by what occurs with man. When a person is being regenerated, that is, when he is to be joined to the Lord, he moves towards that conjunction by means of truth, that is, by means of the truths of faith, for nobody can be regenerated except by means of cognitions of faith, which are the truths by means of which he moves towards such conjunction. These truths the Lord goes to meet by way of good, that is, of charity, and introduces this charity into the cognitions of faith, that is, into its truths. For all truths are the recipient vessels of good; and therefore the more genuine the truths are and the more they are multiplied, the more abundantly is good able to accept them as vessels, to bring them into a state of order, and only then to reveal itself, doing so in the end in such a way that the truths are not seen, except insofar as good shines through them. In this way truth becomes celestial-spiritual. And since the Lord is present solely within the good that flows from charity, a person is in this manner joined to the Lord, and by means of good, that is, of charity, has conscience conferred on him, from which he then thinks what is true and does what is right. But this conscience is a conscience in keeping with the truths and the things that are right into which good or charity has been introduced.

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