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Genesis 21

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1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had spoken.

2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

7 And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah shall nurse children? for I have borne him a son in his old age.

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the day that Isaac was weaned.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

10 Wherefore, she said to Abraham, Cast out this bond-woman, and her son: for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son.

12 And God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bond-woman; in all that Sarah hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13 And also of the son of the bond-woman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar (putting it on her shoulder) and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went, and sat her down over against him, a good way off, as it were a bow-shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and raised her voice, and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad: and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand: for I will make him a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water: and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took for him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, spoke to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:

23 Now therefore swear to me here by God, that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land in which thou hast sojourned.

24 And Abraham said, I will swear.

25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech, because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.

26 And Abimelech said, I know not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet have I heard of it, but to-day.

27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a covenant.

28 And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What mean these seven ewe-lambs, which thou hast set by themselves?

30 And he said, For these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take from my hand, that they may be a witness to me, that I have digged this well.

31 Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba: because there they swore both of them.

32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: Then Abimelech arose, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #2547

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2547. 'That you have brought great sin on me and on my kingdom' means that thereby the doctrine of faith and all matters of doctrine would be at risk. This is clear from the meaning of 'Abimelech', to whom the pronoun 'me' refers here, as the doctrine of faith, and from the meaning of 'kingdom' as the truth of doctrine or that which is a matter of doctrine. That 'a kingdom' in the internal sense means truths of doctrine, and in the contrary sense falsities of doctrine, is clear from the Word, as in Jeremiah,

He is the One who formed all things and the sceptre of His inheritance; Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. You are to me a hammer, weapons of war, and in You I will scatter the nations, and in You I will destroy the kingdoms. Jeremiah 51:19-20.

This refers to the Lord who, it is clear, is not going to scatter nations or destroy kingdoms but to do so to things meant by nations and kingdoms, namely evils and falsities of doctrine.

[2] In Ezekiel,

Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to where they have gone away, and will gather them from all around, and bring them into their own land; I will make them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one King will be King to them all, and they will no longer be two nations, nor will they be divided any longer into two kingdoms. Ezekiel 37:21-22.

'Israel' stands for the spiritual Church, 'nation' for the good of that Church, that is, of doctrine, for by 'nations' goods are meant, see 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849. 'Kingdom' stands for the truths of that Church. The fact that 'nations' and 'kingdoms' here mean something different from nations and kingdoms is quite evident, for the children of Israel, or the Israelites, are spoken of as being gathered together and brought into the land when in fact they were dispersed among the gentile nations and became such themselves.

[3] In Isaiah,

I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they will fight, every one against his brother, and every one against his companion, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. Isaiah 19:2.

Here 'Egypt' stands for the reasonings based on facts concerning the truths of faith, 1164, 1165, 1186. 'City' stands for doctrine, in this case heretical doctrine, 402, 2268, 2449, 'kingdom' for falsity of doctrine. 'City against city and kingdom against kingdom' therefore stands for the fact that heresies and falsities will be in conflict with one another. The same is meant by the following words spoken by the Lord in reference to the close of the age, in Matthew,

Nation will be roused against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Matthew 24:7.

This stands for evils against evils, and falsities against falsities.

[4] The things that Daniel prophesied about the four kingdoms, Chapter 2:37-46; Daniel 7:17-end; and about the kingdoms of Media and Persia, Chapter 8:20-end; and about the kingdoms of the king of the south and the king of the north in Chapter 11; and the things that John too prophesied in the Book of Revelation about kings and kingdoms, have no other meaning. Those kingdoms are used solely to mean states of the Church as regards truths and falsities. The conditions of monarchs and of earthly kingdoms in the sense of the letter are in the internal sense states of the Church and of the Lord's kingdom. In the internal sense nothing else occurs there than spiritual and celestial things, for regarded in itself the Word of the Lord is purely spiritual and celestial; but so that it may be read and understood by man, no matter who, ideas of the things which belong to heaven are conveyed by means of such things as exist on earth.

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