Bibliorum

 

Postanak 17

Study

   

1 A kad Avramu bi devedeset i devet godina, javi mu se Gospod i reče mu: Ja sam Bog Svemogući, po mojoj volji živi, i budi pošten.

2 I učiniću zavet između sebe i tebe, i vrlo ću te umnožiti.

3 A Avram pade ničice. I Gospod mu još govori i reče:

4 Od mene evo zavet moj s tobom da ćeš biti otac mnogim narodima.

5 Zato se više nećeš zvati Avram nego će ti ime biti Avraam, jer sam te učinio ocem mnogih naroda;

6 Daću ti porodicu vrlo veliku, i načiniću od tebe narode mnoge, i carevi će izaći od tebe.

7 A postavljam zavet svoj između sebe i tebe i semena tvog nakon tebe od kolena do kolena, da je zavet večan, da sam Bog tebi i semenu tvom nakon tebe;

8 I daću tebi i semenu tvom nakon tebe zemlju u kojoj si došljak, svu zemlju hanansku u državu večnu, i biću im Bog.

9 I reče Bog Avramu: Ti pak drži zavet moj, ti i seme tvoje nakon tebe od kolena do kolena.

10 A ovo je zavet moj između mene i vas i semena tvog nakon tebe koji ćete držati: da se obrezuju između vas sve muškinje.

11 A obrezivaćete okrajak tela svog, da bude znak zaveta između mene i vas.

12 Svako muško dete kad mu bude osam dana da se obrezuje od kolena do kolena, rodilo se u kući ili bilo kupljeno za novce od kojih god stranaca, koje ne bude od semena tvog.

13 Da se obrezuje koje se rodi u kući tvojoj i koje se kupi za novce tvoje; tako će biti zavet moj na telu vašem zavet večan.

14 A neobrezano muško, kome se ne obreže okrajak tela njegovog, da se istrebi iz naroda svog, jer pokvari zavet moj.

15 I još reče Bog Avramu: A Saru ženu svoju ne zovi je više Sara nego neka joj bude ime Saara.

16 I ja ću je blagosloviti, i daću ti sina od nje; blagosloviću je, i biće mati mnogim narodima, i carevi narodima izaći će od nje.

17 Tada pade Avram ničice i nasmeja se govoreći u srcu svom: Eda će se čoveku od sto godina roditi sin? I Sari? Eda će žena od devedeset godina roditi?

18 I Avram reče Bogu: Neka živ bude Ismailo pred Tobom!

19 I reče Bog: Zaista Sara žena tvoja rodiće ti sina, i nadećeš mu ime Isak; i postaviću zavet svoj s njim da bude zavet večan semenu njegovom nakon njega.

20 A i za Ismaila uslišio sam te; evo blagoslovio sam ga, i daću mu porodicu veliku, i umnožiću ga veoma; i rodiće dvanaest knezova, i načiniću od njega velik narod.

21 A zavet svoj učiniću s Isakom kad ti ga rodi Sara, do godine u ovo doba.

22 I Bog izgovorivši otide od Avrama gore.

23 I Avram uze Ismaila sina svog i sve koji se rodiše u domu njegovom i koje god beše kupio za svoje novce, sve muškinje od domaćih svojih; i obreza okrajak tela njihovog u isti dan, kao što mu kaza Bog.

24 A beše Avramu devedeset i devet godina kad obreza okrajak tela svog.

25 A Ismailu sinu njegovom beše trinaest godina kad mu se obreza okrajak tela njegovog.

26 U jedan dan obreza se Avram i sin mu Ismailo,

27 I svi domašnji njegovi, rođeni u kući i kupljeni za novce od stranaca, biše obrezani s njim.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #468

Studere hoc loco

  
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468. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

From what has been said and shown in the foregoing chapter, it is evident that by names are signified heresies and doctrines. Hence it may be seen that by the names in this chapter are not meant persons, but things, and in the present instance doctrines, or churches, which were preserved, notwithstanding the changes they underwent, from the time of the Most Ancient Church even to “Noah.” But the case with every church is that in course of time it decreases, and at last remains among a few; and the few with whom it remained at the time of the flood were called “Noah.”

[2] That the true church decreases and remains with but few, is evident from other churches which have thus decreased. Those who are left are in the Word called “remains” and a “remnant” and are said to be “in the midst” or “middle” “of the land.” And as this is the case in the universal, so also it is in the particular, or as it is with the church, so it is with every individual man; for unless remains were preserved by the Lord in everyone, he must needs perish eternally, since spiritual and celestial life are in the remains. So also in the general or universal-if there were not always some with whom the church, or true faith, remained, the human race would perish; for, as is generally known, a city, nay, sometimes a whole kingdom, is saved for the sake of a few. It is in this respect with the church as it is with the human body; so long as the heart is sound, life is possible for the neighboring viscera, but when the heart is enfeebled, the other parts of the body cease to be nourished, and the man dies. The last remains are those which are signified by “Noah;” for (as appears from Genesis 6:12, as well as from other places) the whole earth had become corrupt.

[3] Of remains as existing in each individual as well as in the church in general, much is said in the Prophets; as in Isaiah:

He that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy to Him, even everyone that is written unto lives in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have washed away the bloods of Jerusalem from the midst thereof (Isaiah 4:3-4),

in which passage holiness is predicated of the remains, by which are signified the remains of the church, and also of a man of the church; for “those left” in Zion and Jerusalem could not be holy merely because they were “left.” Again:

It shall come to pass in that day, that the remains of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon Jehovah the Holy One of Israel in truth. The remains shall return, the remains of Jacob, unto the mighty God (Isaiah 10:20-21).

In Jeremiah:

In those days, and in that time, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon him whom I shall make a remnant (Jeremiah 50:20).

In Micah:

The remains of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, as the dew from Jehovah, as the showers upon the grass (Micah 5:7).

[4] The residue or remains of a man, or of the church, were also represented by the tenths, which were holy; hence also a number with ten in it was holy, and “ten” is therefore predicated of remains; as in Isaiah:

Jehovah shall remove man, and many things [shall be] left in the midst of the land; and yet in it [shall be] a tenth part, and it shall return, and shall be for exterminating; as an oak, and an ilex, when the stock is cast forth from them, the holy seed is the stock thereof (Isaiah 6:12-13); where the residue is called a “seed of holiness.” And in Amos:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The city that goeth forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goeth forth a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel (Amos 5:3).

In these and many other passages, in the internal sense are signified the “remains” of which we have been speaking. That a city is preserved for the sake of the remains of the church, is evident from what was said to Abraham concerning Sodom:

Abraham said, Peradventure ten may be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake (Genesis 18:32).

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