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1 Mose 24:21

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21 Der Mann aber wunderte sich ihrer und schwieg stille, bis er erkennete, ob der HERR zu seiner Reise Gnade gegeben hätte, oder nicht.

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Arcana Coelestia #3154

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3154. Verses 34-48 And he said, I am Abraham's servant. And Jehovah has blessed my master greatly and has made him great, and has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male and female servants, and camels and asses. And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master in her old age; and to him he has given all that he has. And my master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I am dwelling; but you shall go to my father's house, and to my family, and you shall take a wife for my son. And I said to my master, Perhaps the woman is not going to follow me. And he said to me, Jehovah, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and will prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father's house. Then you will be clear from my oath because you have come to my family; and if they will not give her to you, you will be clear from my oath. And I came today to me spring and said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, if You will, prosper now my way which I am walking in. Behold, I am standing at a spring of water; and let it be that the young woman going out to draw, to whom I say, Give me a drink now of a little water from your pitcher, and she says to me, Drink, and I will also draw for your camels - let her be the woman whom Jehovah has appointed for my master's son. I had scarcely finished speaking in my heart, and behold, Rebekah came out, with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring and drew, and I said to her, Give me a drink now. And she hastened and lowered her pitcher from upon her, and said, Drink, and also I will give your camels a drink; and I drank, and she gave the camels also a drink. And I asked her and said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milkah bore to him. And I put a jewel on her nose, and bracelets on her hands. And I bowed, and bowed down to Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who led me into the way of truth to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

'He said, I am Abraham's servant' means that it was from Divine Good. 'And Jehovah has blessed my master greatly and has made him great' means the Divine Human as regards good and as regards truth. 'And has given him flocks and herds' means goods in general. 'And silver and gold' means truths in general. 'And male and female servants, and camels and asses' means truths specifically. 'And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master' means the Divine Rational born from Divine Truth. 'In her old age' means when that state actually existed. 'And to him he has given all that he has' means that all Divine things are His. 'And my master made me swear' means here, as previously, a binding and solemn undertaking. 'Saying! You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites' means here, as previously, that the Divine Rational should not be joined to any affection incompatible with truth. 'In whose land I am dwelling' means incompatible things in which Divine good is present. 'But you shall go to my father's house' means good which comes from the Divine. 'And to my family' means truth which comes from the Divine. 'And you shall take a wife for my son' means that from this a joining together would be effected. 'And I said to my master, Perhaps the woman is not going to follow me' means here, as previously, doubt in the natural man as to whether that affection was separable. 'And he said to me' means instruction. 'Jehovah, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you' means here, as previously, Divine Providence. 'And will prosper your way' means as regards truth. 'And you shall take a wife for my son' means that a joining together would be effected. 'From my family and from my father's house' means from the good and truth that came from the Divine there. 'Then you will be clear from my oath' means here, as previously, the freedom which the natural man has. 'Because you have come to my family; and if they will not give her to you' means as regards separation. 'You will be clear from my oath' means that in that case no blame was attached to the natural man. The remainder of this section, as far as verse 48, is similar in meaning to a previous part of the chapter.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #4104

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4104. 'And set his sons and his womenfolk on camels' means a raising up of truths and of affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623; from the meaning of 'womenfolk', who in this case are Rachel and Leah, and also their servant-girls, as affections for truth, for cognitions, and for facts, dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'camels' as general facts within the natural, dealt with in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145.

[2] Anyone who does not have some knowledge of representations and correspondences is incapable of believing that the words 'he set his sons and his womenfolk on camels' mean such things. To him they seem too remote to incorporate and contain within them that which is spiritual; for he thinks about sons, womenfolk, and camels. But the angels, who see and perceive all such things in a spiritual manner, do not think of sons but of truths when 'sons' are mentioned; they do not think of womenfolk but of affections for truth, cognitions, and facts when 'womenfolk' are mentioned; nor do they think of camels but of things that are general within the natural when these are mentioned. For such is the correspondence between the one thing and the other, and such is the way in which angels think. And what is remarkable, it is also the way in which the internal spiritual man thinks while living in the body, though the external man is totally unaware of it. For the same reason when a person who has been regenerated dies he enters into a similar manner of thinking and is able to think with and talk to angels. And this he does without being taught to do so, something that would never have been possible if his interior thought had not been such. The fact that it is such is due to the correspondence of natural things with spiritual. From this it may be seen that although the literal sense of the Word is natural it nevertheless contains spiritual things within it, and in every single part, that is, it contains the kind of things that belong to thought and therefore to interior or spiritual language, such as angels employ.

[3] With regard to the raising up of truths and of the affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general, truths and affections are raised up when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are thought to be more important than those of life in the body and of the kingdom of this world. When a person acknowledges the former to be first and foremost, and the latter to be secondary and subordinate, the truths he knows and his affections for them are raised up. For as is his acknowledgement so in the same measure is that person conveyed into the light of heaven, which light holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and so also in the same measure do things belonging to the light of this world become for him images and so to speak mirrors in which he sees the things belonging to the light of heaven. The contrary takes place when he thinks the things of the life of the body and of the kingdom of this world to be more important than those of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom. He does this when he believes that the latter do not exist because he does not see them and because nobody has come from there and given an account of them - or if he does believe that they may exist, nothing worse will happen to him than to others - and in so believing confirms himself in these ideas, leads a worldly life, and despises charity and faith altogether. With such a person truths and the affections for them are not raised up but are either smothered, or rejected, or perverted. For he dwells in natural light into which no heavenly light at all flows in. This shows what is meant by a raising up of truths and of affections for them.

[4] As for the arrangement of these truths and affections within things that are general, this is the inevitable consequence; for insofar as a person thinks heavenly things are more important than worldly ones, things within his natural are arranged into an order in keeping with the state of heaven. As a result they are seen in the natural, as has been stated, as images and mirrors of heavenly things, for they are representatives that correspond. It is the ends in view which effect the arranging, that is, the Lord effects it by means of the ends which the person has in view. For there are three things which follow in order ends, causes, and effects. Ends bring about causes, and by means of causes bring about effects. As is the nature of the ends therefore so is that of the emanating causes, and from these that of the effects. Ends constitute the inmost things with man; causes constitute the intermediate things and are called the intermediate ends; and effects constitute the ultimate things and are called the ultimate ends. Effects also constitute the things which are termed general. From this one may see what is meant by an arrangement within things that are general, namely this: When anyone has the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom as his end in view, then all intermediate ends, which are causes, and all ultimate ends, which are effects, are arranged in accordance with the end itself. And this is situated within the natural because that is where effects reside, or what amounts to the same, where things that are general reside.

[5] Every adult person possessing any judgement at all can recognize, if he gives the matter any consideration, that he is living in two kingdoms, the spiritual kingdom and the natural one. He can recognize that the spiritual kingdom is interior and the natural exterior, and consequently that he is able to think one more important than the other, that is, to have one rather than the other in view, and therefore that with him the one which he has as his end in view or makes more important is predominant. If therefore he has the spiritual kingdom, that is, the things which constitute that kingdom, as his end and thinks the spiritual kingdom more important than the natural one, then he acknowledges as being first and foremost love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and consequently all ideas that reinforce love and charity, and are called the truths of faith; for these belong to that kingdom. When this is the situation in a person, everything within his natural is distributed and arranged in keeping with the things of that kingdom so as to be subservient and obedient. But when he has the natural kingdom, that is, the things that exist there, as his end in view, and makes that more important, he annihilates all love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and all faith. Indeed he goes so far as to set no value at all on these things, but makes love of the world and self-love, and the things which go with these, all important. When this is the case everything within his natural is arranged in keeping with those ends, and so is entirely at odds with the things of heaven. In this way he brings about hell within himself. Having something as the end in view consists in loving it, for every end exists as the object of a person's love because that which he loves he has as his end in view.

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