Bibliorum

 

Genesis 20

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1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur. And he sojourned in Gerar.

2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, because of the woman whom thou hast taken. For she is a man's wife.

4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay even a righteous nation?

5 Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself Said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.

6 And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the integrity of thy heart thou has done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7 Now therefore restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live. And if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. And the men were sore afraid.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place. And they will slay me for my wife's sake.

12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife:

13 and it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me. At every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee. Dwell where it pleaseth thee.

16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee. And in respect of all thou art righted.

17 And Abraham prayed unto God. And God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants. And they bare children.

18 For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2543

Studere hoc loco

  
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2543. 'The men were very much afraid' means until they should become averse. This is clear from the meaning here of 'being afraid' and from the meaning of 'men'. As with every emotion, being afraid or fear includes many things within it, even though it looks to be simple and without parts. That is to say, this fear includes loss of life, or reputation, or position, or gain in worldly things, but also loss of good and truth, and so of life, in heavenly things. And because it includes these, it also includes aversion to those things which endeavour to destroy them; and this is all the more the case when an affection itself for what is good and true exists with a person. Such aversion is the opposite of the affection and therefore 'being afraid' here means feeling aversion. The greatness of the Lord's aversion is clear from the strong feeling with which things are stated in the next verse, a strong feeling that doctrine should not be debased by anything of a rational or factual kind. For 'men' means rational concepts and factual knowledge, that is, everything that belongs to the understanding part of the mind, as has been shown in 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007.

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

Commentarius

 

Flock

  

A flock signifies the church in simple good. Flock of thine heritage in Micah 7:14 signifies people in the church in the spiritual things of the Word, which are the truths of its internal sense (Apocalypse Explained 727[6]). A flock, as in Genesis 26, denotes interior or rational good. A flock signifies natural interior good, in Genesis 32:5. A flock signifies people in spiritual good.

(Notae: Arcana Coelestia 343, 2566)