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Genesis 16

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1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee go in to my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, my wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

6 But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

13 And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-la-hai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bore, Ishmael.

16 And Abram was eighty six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1953

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1953. That 'she called the name of Jehovah who spoke to her' means the state of the Lord's Interior Man when it thought about these things is clear from what comes before and after, and also from the meaning of '[calling] the name' as knowing the nature of, dealt with already in 144, 145, 1754. It is the nature of this state, that is, of the Lord's state as it then was when He so thought about the rational, that is described. The rational itself could not engage in such thought; only the Interior or higher Man, referred to in 1926, could do so. In no way does the rational have the ability to think regarding its own nature, for nothing has the ability to see into itself. There has to be that which is more internal or higher that thinks regarding it, for this does have the ability to see it. Take for example the ear. The ear is not able to know, still less to perceive, the utterance which it receives into itself; but it is the interior hearing which is able to do so. The ear merely makes out the articulated sounds or expressions, the interior hearing being that which grasps the meaning, and after that the interior seeing or inner sight which perceives it. This is the manner in which through hearing a person perceives the meaning of the utterance. It is similar with the things of sight. The first ideas received from visual objects are material, as they are also called; but sight still more interior surveys them and in this way engages in thought. The same also applies to man's rational. The rational has no ability at all to see itself, still less to examine its own nature; but there has to be something more internal to do this. Consequently when a person has the ability to do this, that is to say, to perceive anything false present in his rational and any truth shining out of it, and more so if he is able to perceive anything fighting and triumphing, he may know that such an ability springs from the Lord's influx through the internal man. The Lord's Interior Man, referred to above in 1926 and meant here, was that which had been joined to the Internal Man, which was Jehovah, and so was far above that rational. From that Interior Man, as in heavenly light, He saw and perceived what the nature of the rational would be if truth alone and no good dwelt in it.

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