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創世記 17

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1 亞伯蘭歲的時候,耶和華向他顯現,對他:我是全能的神。你當在我面前作完全人,

2 我就與你立約,使你的後裔極其繁多。

3 亞伯蘭俯伏在地;又對他

4 我與你立約:你要作多國的父。

5 從此以後,你的名不再亞伯蘭,要亞伯拉罕,因為我已立你作多國的父。

6 我必使你的後裔極其繁多;國度從你而立,君從你而出。

7 我要與你並你世世代裔堅立我的約,作永遠的約,是要作你和你裔的

8 我要將你現在寄居的,就是迦南,賜你和你的永遠為業,我也必作他們的

9 又對亞伯拉罕:你和你的裔必世世代遵守我的約。

10 你們所有的男子都要受割禮;這就是我與你並你的裔所立的約,是你們所當遵守的。

11 你們都要受割禮(原文作割陽皮;14,23,24,25節同);這是我與你們立約的證據。

12 你們世世代的男子,無論是家裡生的,是在你後裔之外用子從外人買的,生下來第八日,都要受割禮

13 你家裡生的和你用子買的,都必須受割禮。這樣,我的約就立在你們體上作永遠的約。

14 但不受割禮的男子必從民中剪除,因他背了我的約。

15 又對亞伯拉罕:你的妻子撒萊不可再撒萊,他的名要撒拉。

16 我必賜福他,也要使你從他得一個兒子。我要賜福他,他也要作多國之母;必有百姓的君從他而出。

17 亞伯拉罕就俯伏在地喜笑,:一歲的人還能得孩子麼?撒拉已經九十歲了,還能生養麼?

18 亞伯拉罕:但願以實瑪利活在你面前。

19 :不然,你妻子撒拉要給你生一個兒子,你要給他起名以撒。我要與他堅定所立的約,作他永遠的約。

20 至於以實瑪利,我也應允你:我必賜福他,使他昌盛,極其繁多。他必生十二個族長;我也要使他成為國。

21 到明年這時節,撒拉必給你生以撒,我要與他堅定所立的約。

22 亞伯拉罕完了話,就離開他上升去了。

23 正當那日,亞伯拉罕遵著的命,給他的兒子以實瑪利和家裡的一切男子,無論是在家裡生的,是用子買的,都行了割禮

24 亞伯拉罕割禮的時候年歲。

25 兒子以實瑪利割禮的時候年十三歲。

26 正當那日,亞伯拉罕和他兒子以實瑪利一同受了割禮

27 家裡所有的人,無論是在家裡生的,是用子從外人買的,也都一同受了割禮

   

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2077

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2077. That 'Abraham said to God' means the Lord's perception from love is clear from the meaning of 'saying to God' as perceiving, dealt with quite often already. That 'Abraham' here means the Lord when passing through that state and that age has been stated above in 1989. The Lord, it is evident, uttered this out of love, for the actual words used, 'O that Ishmael might live before You!' are an expression of an affection originating in love. The Lord's affection or love was Divine; that is to say, it was directed towards the whole human race which He desired, through the union of His Human Essence with the Divine Essence, to join completely to Himself and save eternally. Concerning that love see Volume One, in 1735; concerning the fact that the Lord out of this love contended constantly with the hells, 1690, 1789, 1812; and concerning the fact that in the union of His Human with the Divine His sole regard was nothing other than the conjunction of the Divine with the human race, 2034 above.

[2] The nature of the Lord's love surpasses all human understanding and is unbelievable in the extreme to people who do not know what heavenly love is in which angels abide. To save a soul from hell the angels think nothing of giving their own lives; indeed if it were possible they would suffer hell themselves in place of that soul. Consequently their inmost joy is to transport into heaven someone rising from the dead. They confess however that that love does not originate one little bit in themselves but that every single aspect of it does so in the Lord alone. Indeed they are incensed if anyone thinks anything different.

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

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2034

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2034. 'You and your seed after you' means that from Him there is a conjunction of all who have faith in Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as faith, dealt with frequently above, and from the meaning of 'after you' as following Him, dealt with above in 2019. Previously the subject has been the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence and of Human Essence with Divine Essence. But now it is the conjunction of the Lord with those who believe in Him, which is also why the word 'you' is repeated, that is to say, 'you shall keep My covenant' followed by 'you and your seed'. From this repetition of 'you' and from the coupling of it with 'seed' it is clear that in the internal sense conjunction is meant, in particular conjunction with those who constitute the seed, which has been shown in 1025, 1447, 1610, to mean the faith that inheres in charity. And the fact that faith is charity itself, see Volume One, in 30-38, 379, 389, 654, 724, 809, 916, 1017, 1076, 1077, 1162, 1176, 1258, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844.

[2] Furthermore when the Lord speaks of the union of Himself with the Father He is at one and the same time speaking about His own conjunction with the human race since this was the reason for the union, as is clear in John,

That they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. For I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them. John 17:21-23, 26.

These verses show that in the union of Himself with His Father the Lord had conjunction of Himself with the human race in view, and had this conjunction at heart because it constituted His love. Indeed all conjunction comes about through love, love being conjunction itself.

[3] Elsewhere in the same gospel,

Because I live you will live also; in that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me. John 14:19-21.

This similarly shows that in the union of His Human Essence with the Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that this was His end in view, and this His love, which was such that His inmost joy was the salvation of the human race, which He had had in view in the union of Himself with His Father. These verses from John describe what it is that effects union, namely having His commandments and doing them, which is loving the Lord.

[4] In the same gospel,

Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Jesus said, Not for My sake has this voice come but for yours. But I, when I have been lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. 1 John 12:28, 30, 32.

'Glorification' is used to mean union, as stated already. And the fact that in the union of Himself with the Father He had the conjunction of Himself with the human race in view is stated openly in the words, 'When I have been lifted up I will draw all men to Myself'.

[5] As for the conjunction of the Infinite, or Supreme Divine, with the human race being accomplished through the Lord's Human made Divine, and as for this conjunction being the reason for the Lord's Coming into the world, this is an arcanum to which many apply their minds, but because it is beyond their grasp they do not believe it. And since they do not believe it, for the reason that they cannot grasp it, that arcanum becomes a stumbling-block to them. That this is so I have been given to know from much experience of people entering the next life. Very many of these - the majority of clever people in the world - when they merely think that the Lord became man and was in outward appearance like any other human being, and that He suffered, and yet is at the same time governing the universe, immediately fill the sphere around them with stumbling-blocks. The reason they do so is that to them this whole idea had been a stumbling-block during their lifetime, though they had not then made this public but had worshipped Him in outward expressions of holiness. For in the next life the things that are interior are laid bare and revealed by the sphere that emanates from them, dealt with in Volume One, in 1048. 1053, 1316, 1504. From this sphere one perceives quite plainly what their faith had really been and what they had really thought about the Lord.

[6] This being so let the matter be explained a little further. After everything celestial with man perished, that is, all love to God, so that as a result the will for what is good existed no longer, the human race was separated from the Divine. For nothing other than love effects conjunction, and when love has been reduced to nothing, disjunction has taken place. And when the latter has taken place destruction and annihilation follow. At that point therefore a promise was given concerning the Lord's Coming into the world, who was to unite the Human to the Divine, and by means of this union was to join [to the Divine] the human race that was abiding in Himself through faith grounded in love and charity.

[7] From the time of that first promise given in Genesis 3:15, this kind of faith in the Lord who was to come was conjunctive. But once faith springing from love did not remain any more in the world the Lord came and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence so that these were completely one, as He Himself states explicitly. At the same time He taught the way of truth to the effect that everyone who believed in Him, that is, who loved Him and what was His, and who abided in His love, which is a love directed towards the entire human race and so towards the neighbour, would be conjoined and thus saved.

[8] Once the Human had been made Divine, and the Divine made Human in the Lord, an influx of the Infinite, or the Supreme Divine, took place with man which could not possibly have manifested itself in any other way. Also by means of that influx the dreadful false persuasions and the dreadful desires for evil were dispersed with which the world of spirits had been filled and was constantly being filled by souls streaming into it from the world; and those who were actuated by such persuasions and evil desires were cast into hell and so separated. Unless this had been done the human race would have perished, for it is by means of spirits that the Lord rules the human race. They could not have been dispersed in any other way because there was no activity of the Divine by way of man's rational concepts into his inner sensory awareness, for these are far below the Supreme Divine when not so united. Still deeper arcana exist which cannot possibly be explained intelligibly to anyone. See what has appeared already in 1676, 1990, 2016. That the Lord appears as the Sun in the heaven of celestial angels and as the Moon in the heaven of spiritual angels, and that the Sun is the celestial existence of His love and the Moon the spiritual existence of it, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531; and that every single thing comes beneath His gaze, 1274 (end), 1277 (end)

Notas a pie de página:

1. The Latin means after Me but the Greek means to Me which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

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