2764. Genesis 22

1. And so it was after these events, that God tempted Abraham, and said to him, Abraham. And he said, Here I am.

2. And He said, Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and get you to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you.

3. And in the morning Abraham rose up early, and saddled his ass, and took two of his servants ¹ with him, and Isaac his son, and split the pieces of wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him.

4. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar off.

5. And Abraham said to his servants, Remain here with the ass, and I and the boy will go over there, and we will bow ourselves down, and return to you.

6. And Abraham took the pieces of wood for the burnt offering and laid them on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and the two of them went on together.

7. And Isaac said to Abraham his father - he said - My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the pieces of wood, but where is the animal for the burnt offering?

8. And Abraham said, God will see for Himself to the animal for a burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together.

9. And they came to the place of which God told him, and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the pieces of wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the pieces of wood.

10. And Abraham put forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11. And the angel of Jehovah called to him out of heaven, and said Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am.

12. And he said, Do not put forth your hand towards the boy and do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God and have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.

13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a ram behind [him] caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14. And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah will see; as it is said today, On the mountain Jehovah will see [to it].

15. And the angel of Jehovah called to Abraham a second time out of heaven.

16. And he said, By Myself I have sworn, says Jehovah, that because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17. I will certainly bless you, and I will certainly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand which is on the seashore. And your seed will inherit the gate of their ² enemies.

18. And in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed because you have hearkened to My voice.

19. And Abraham returned to his servants, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt in Beersheba.

20. And so it was, after these events, ³ that it was pointed out to Abraham, saying, Behold, Milkah, she also has borne sons, to Nahor your brother:

21. Uz her firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram;

22. And Kesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23. And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milkah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

24. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah; and she too bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maakah.

CONTENTS

The subject in this chapter in the internal sense is the Lord's severest and inmost temptations, by means of which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence; then it is the salvation by means of that union of those who constitute the Lord's spiritual Church.

Fußnoten:

10362. 'He who profanes it' means being led by self and one's own loves, and not by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'profaning the sabbath', or doing work on the sabbath day, as being led by self and not by the Lord, thus by one's own loves. That this is what 'profaning the sabbath' means is clear in Isaiah,

If you turn you foot away from the sabbath, so that you do not do your own will on My holy day, and do not do your own ways, and do not find your own desire and speak [your own] words ... Isaiah 58:13.

'Turning one's foot away from the sabbath' means forsaking such things as belong to the natural man. 'Doing one's own will' means doing that which is favourable to selfish desires and the evils of self-love and love of the world. 'Doing one's own ways' means doing that which is favourable to the falsities of evil. 'Finding one's own desire' means leading a life that accords with the delights that belong to those types of love, and 'speaking [one's own] words' thinking such things. From all this it is evident that 'profaning the sabbath' means being led by self and one's own loves, and not by the Lord, who in the highest sense is the sabbath, as shown just above.

[2] The like is meant by the kinds of work, such as cutting wood, lighting a fire, preparing food then, gathering in the harvest, and many other kinds, which people were prohibited from doing on the sabbath day; all these had a like meaning. 'Cutting wood' meant being led by self to do what was good; 'lighting a fire' meant being inflamed to do it by their own selfish loves; and 'preparing food' meant teaching themselves by means of their own intelligence. No one can know except from the internal sense that these prohibitions which have been mentioned imply such things.

[3] It should in addition be remembered that being led by self and being led by the Lord are two opposites. Someone who is led by self is led by his own loves, and so by hell since the loves that are a person's own originate there; but someone who is led by the Lord is led by heaven's loves, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. One who is led by these loves is allured away from selfish loves, whereas one who is led by selfish loves is allured away from heaven's loves; for selfish loves agree in no way at all with heaven's loves. A person's life is located either in heaven or in hell; it is impossible for it to be in one and at the same time in the other. This is how the Lord's words in Matthew should be understood,

No one can serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to the one and disregard the other. Matthew 6:24.

From all this it is evident what 'doing work on the sabbath day' means.