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Genesis 16

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1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I gave my handmaid into they bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: Jehovah judge between me and thee.

6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her that which is good in thine eyes. And Sarai dealt hardly with her, and she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, whence camest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because Jehovah hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he shall be [as] a wild ass among men; his hand [shall be] against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his brethren.

13 And she called the name of Jehovah that spake unto her, Thou art a God that seeth: for she said, Have I even here looked after him that seeth me?

14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bare, Ishmael.

16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1894

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1894. That Sarai is truth adjoined to good, has been said and shown before (n. 1468 and elsewhere), as also that Abram is the Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah. The Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah, is called Man, because no one is man except Jehovah alone; for man, in the genuine sense, signifies that Esse from which man is. The Esse itself from which man is, is the Divine, consequently the celestial and the spiritual. Without the Divine celestial and spiritual, there is nothing human in man, but only a sort of animal nature, such as there is in beasts. It is from the Esse of Jehovah, or of the Lord, that every man is man; and from this also he is called man. The celestial which makes the man is that he loves the Lord and loves the neighbor; in this way is he man, because he is an image of the Lord, and because he has this from the Lord; otherwise he is a wild beast.

[2] That Jehovah or the Lord is the only Man, and that men have it from Him that they are called men, also that one is more man than another, may be seen above (n. 49, 288, 477, 565); and the same may also be seen from the fact that Jehovah, or the Lord, appeared as Man to the fathers of the Most Ancient Church, and afterwards also to Abraham and to the prophets; and on this account also the Lord, after there was no man any longer on the earth, or no longer anything celestial and spiritual among men, deigned to assume the human nature by being born as are other men, and to make that nature Divine; and in this way also He is the only Man. Besides, the universal heaven presents before the Lord the image of a man, because it presents Himself. From this, heaven is called the Grand Man, and this especially from the fact that the Lord there is all in all.

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