Bibliorum

 

Genesis 21

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1 Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.

2 Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3 Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

4 Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.

6 Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me."

7 She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."

8 The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

10 Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac."

11 The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son.

12 God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called.

13 I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed."

14 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.

17 God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."

19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.

20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.

21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

22 It happened at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do.

23 Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner."

24 Abraham said, "I will swear."

25 Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.

26 Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today."

27 Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant.

28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?"

30 He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well."

31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore there.

32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.

34 Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2574

Studere hoc loco

  
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2574. 'And to Sarah he said' means perception from spiritual truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Sarah when a wife' as Divine spiritual truth, dealt with in 2507, and of the same character when 'a sister' as rational truth, dealt with in 2508, and from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with in 2506. Here Sarah is addressed as 'a wife' and also as 'a sister' - as 'a wife' because she had been restored [to Abraham], 2569, as 'a sister' because it is said, 'I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother'. Also, in that what was said by Abimelech was perceived by Sarah in her wifely status, therefore 'saying to Sarah' means perceiving from spiritual truth.

[2] These words, it is evident, embody deeper arcana than can be disclosed intelligibly. And if they were to be disclosed merely to a limited extent it would be necessary to explain many things first of all, which are as yet unknown, such as what spiritual truth is; what perception from spiritual truth is; the fact that the Lord alone has had perception from spiritual truth; the fact that just as the Lord implanted rational truth within rational good so He implanted spiritual truth within celestial good, and in so doing was constantly implanting the Human within the Divine in order that in every thing the marriage might exist of the Human with the Divine, and of the Divine with the Human. These things and many more must come first before the things within this verse can be presented intelligibly. Those things are primarily suited to the minds of angels which have the ability to understand them and for the sake of which minds the internal sense of the Word exists. To them these matters are represented in a heavenly manner; and by means of those matters and of the things within this chapter, an idea is instilled of how the Lord by degrees cast aside the human which He had from the mother until at length He was no longer her son (the fact that He did not acknowledge her as His mother is evident in Matthew 12:46-49; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:20-21; John 2:4) and also an idea of how by His own power He made the Human Divine until He was one with the Father, as He Himself teaches in John 14:6, 8-11, and elsewhere.

[3] By means of myriads of ideas and representations, all of which are beyond description, the Lord presents such matters to angels in clear light. The reason, as has been stated, is that these are suited to their minds, and when conscious of them they experience the bliss of intelligence and the happiness of wisdom. What is more, there are angels who, while they were men, formed ideas of the Lord's Human as they did of that of any other person. In order that these angels may exist together with celestial angels in the next life - for in that life ideas inspired by an affection for good join people together - such erroneous ideas as they have had about the Lord are dispelled by means of the internal sense, and in this way they are perfected. This shows how precious to angels those things are within the internal sense of the Word, though they may perhaps seem of small importance to man whose idea of such things is so obscure as to be scarcely any idea at all.

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