The Bible

 

Genesis 10

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1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, [namely], of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

5 Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

6 And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.

7 And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan.

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah: wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

11 Out of that land he went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,

12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city).

13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

14 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (whence went forth the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

15 And Canaan begat Sidon his first-born, and Heth,

16 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,

17 and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

18 and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad.

19 And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as thou goest toward Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, unto Lasha.

20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

21 And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.

22 The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.

23 And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

24 And Arpachshad begat Shelah; and Shelah begat Eber.

25 And unto Eber were born two sons: The name of the one was Peleg. For in his days was the earth divided. And his brother's name was Joktan.

26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

27 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

28 and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

29 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.

30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest toward Sephar, the mountain of the east.

31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #2504

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2504. And he sojourned in Gerar. That this signifies instruction thence in the spiritual things of faith, is evident from the signification of “sojourning,” as being to be instructed (see n. 1463, 2025); and from the signification of “Gerar,” as being what is spiritual of faith. Gerar is named in several places in Genesis (as chapter 10; 26:1, 6, 17, 20, 26); and in these it signifies faith, and this for the reason that Gerar was in Philistia; and by “Philistia” is signified the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith (see n. 1197, 1198); and it was Gerar where the king of the Philistines dwelt. Hence it is that faith itself is signified by “Gerar” (n. 1209); and by the “king of Gerar,” the truth itself of faith; for “king” in the internal sense is truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069). Thus by “Abimelech” is signified the doctrine of faith, concerning which in what follows.

[2] In general there are intellectual things of faith, rational things of faith, and memory-knowledges of faith. They thus proceed in their order from interiors to exteriors. The things of faith which are inmost are called intellectual; those which proceed from them or thence are the rational things of faith; and those which proceed again from these are the memory-knowledges of faith. They are-to use the language of the learned-as prior to posterior, or what is the same, as higher to lower, that is, as interior to exterior. It indeed appears to man as if the memory-knowledge of faith were first, and that the rational then came forth from it, and at length the intellectual; and this for the reason that man advances in this way from his childhood. Nevertheless, although man is not aware of it, the intellectual flows in continually into the rational, and this into the faculty of knowing; 1 but in childhood obscurely, in adult age more evidently, and at last in full light when the man has been regenerated. Then it is apparent that this is the order, and still more fully in the other life (see n. 1495). All these are called “spiritual things;” which are distinguished in this way into degrees, and succeed one another in such an order. The spiritual things of faith are all the truths which are from good, that is, from a celestial origin. Whatever is derived from the celestial is a spiritual thing of faith.

Footnotes:

1. See n. 1901 at the end as compared with n. 1902. [Reviser.]

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