3235. 'Abraham took another wife' means a further state which the Lord, whom Abraham represents, passed through - for 'Abraham and Sarah' represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, 'Abraham and Keturah' the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual. This is clear from what has been stated and shown so far about Abraham and his wife Sarah, and from what is recorded here about Abraham and Keturah. But as it is said that Abraham here represents a further state which the Lord passed through, and that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, whereas Abraham and Keturah did so as regards the Divine Spiritual, one needs to know what is meant by the Divine Celestial and by the Divine Spiritual. The Divine Celestial and the Divine Spiritual have to do with those people who receive the Lord's Divine, for the Lord is seen by everyone according to the character of the recipient, as becomes clear from what has been stated in 1838, 1861, and is quite evident from the fact that the Lord appears to celestial people in one way but to spiritual in another. For He appears as the sun to those who are celestial, but as the moon to those who are spiritual, 1529-1531, 1838. The Lord appears to celestial people as the sun because in them celestial love, which is love to the Lord, is present, but to spiritual people as the moon because in these spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour, is present. The difference is like that between the light of the sun during the daytime and the light of the moon at night, and also between the warmth of both which causes things in the ground to grow. These are what were meant in Genesis 1 by the words,

And God made the two great Lights, the greater Light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser Light to have dominion over the night. Genesis 1:16.

[2] The Lord's kingdom is in general celestial and spiritual, that is, it consists of those who are celestial and of those who are spiritual. And because the Lord's Divine appears to those who are celestial as being celestial, but to those who are spiritual as being spiritual, it is therefore said that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, but Abraham and Keturah as regards the Divine Spiritual. But as scarcely anyone knows what the celestial is or what the spiritual, and who they are who are celestial or spiritual, please see what has been stated and shown about them already in the following places:

What the celestial is and what the spiritual, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2184, 2227, 2507.

Who celestial people are and who spiritual, 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715.

The celestial man is a likeness of the Lord and does good from love, whereas the spiritual man is an image of the Lord and does it from faith, 50-52, 1013.

Those who are celestial perceive truth from good and never indulge in reasoning about it, 202, 337, 607, 895, 1121, 2715.

With the celestial man good is implanted in the will part of his mind, but with the spiritual man in the understanding part, within which, in the case of those who are spiritual, a new will is created, 863, 875, 895, 897, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256.

From good itself those who are celestial see things without limit, but those who are spiritual, because they reason whether a thing is so, cannot reach even the furthest limit to which the light that the celestial have spreads, 2718.

Compared with those who are celestial those who are spiritual dwell in obscurity, 1043, 2708, 2715.

The Lord came into the world to save those who are spiritual, 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834.

10481. 'That those rising up against them would annihilate them' means being left without any power to withstand evils [and falsities] that come from hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'being annihilated' as being deprived of all power to withstand evils and falsities, for in the spiritual world being deprived of that power is having no power at all; and from the meaning of 'those rising up', or enemies, as evils and resulting falsities, these being the enemies that rise up in the spiritual sense. Therefore also such evils and falsities are meant in the Word by 'enemies' and 'those rising up', 2851, 8289, 9255, 9314, as in David,

O Jehovah, how much my enemies have multiplied! Many are those rising up against me, saying regarding my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. Psalms 3:1-2.

In the same author,

Make Your mercy wonderful, O You who by Your right hand save those trusting [in You] from those rising up against them ¹ . Guard me from the wicked who lay me waste, from my enemies who surround me against my soul. Psalms 17:7-9.

In the same author,

Do not deliver me to the desire of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen against me, and he who breathes out violence, unless ² I believed I would see goodness in the land of life. Psalms 27:12-13.

In the same author,

O God, command the salvation ³ of Jacob. Through You we will strike our enemies; in Your name we will trample those rising up against us. Psalms 44:4-5.

In the same author,

Foreigners have risen up against me, and violent ones have sought my soul; they have not set God before them. The Lord is with those supporting my soul. Psalms 54:3-4.

In the same author,

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; raise me up from those rising up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Behold, they lie in wait for my soul. Psalms 59:1-3.

In these and very many other places 'enemies' and 'those rising up' mean evils and falsities which come from hell. The expression 'those rising up' is used because evils and falsities rise up against forms of good and truths, but not vice versa.

[2] Those whose interest lies in external things separated from what is internal have no power at all to withstand evils and falsities which come from hell because all power to withstand them comes from the Divine. Those therefore who are separated from what is internal, being separated from the Divine as well, have no power; as a result they are borne along by evils and falsities, wherever hell takes them, like fluff or a straw in the wind, as is plainly evident from the evil who enter the next life from the world. This was also represented by the Israelite nation, in that they were victorious over their enemies as long as they kept to the kind of worship which they had been commanded, but were defeated by them every time they forsook that worship, thus whenever they were ruled by evil, according to the following in Moses,

If you despise My statutes, the sound of a driven leaf will pursue you, and you will flee, like flight from the sword, and you will fall without [anyone] pursuing. They will stumble over one another ⁴ , as though before the sword, when no one is pursuing. Leviticus 26:15, 36-37.

And elsewhere,

One will pursue a thousand, and two ten thousand; for their Rock sold them, and Jehovah shut them up. Deuteronomy 32:30.

From all this it is evident what the meaning is of 'those rising up would annihilate them'.

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