The Bible

 

Genesis 12

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1 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide:

2 And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:

3 To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

4 So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran.

5 And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.

6 And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.

7 And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.

8 And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord.

9 And he went on, journeying still to the South.

10 And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.

11 Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye;

12 And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.

13 Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.

14 And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair.

15 And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.

16 And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.

17 And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

18 Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife?

19 Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.

20 And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #49

  
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49. It was stated above, that the first state with the sons of Israel, was the appearing of the Lord Jehovih, calling and covenanting; and we are taught from the Word, that these three things took place, first with Abram, secondly with Moses, and thirdly with the entire people. The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before Abraham is thus described in Genesis:

Jehovah appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre; he was sitting at the door of his tent,... and when he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold! three men stood by him, and as soon as he saw them, he ran from the door of the tent to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, O Lord, if I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not away, I pray, from Thy servant (Gen. 18:1-3).

It was the Lord our Saviour who appeared in His Divine Trinity, which the three angels represented; for the Lord said,

Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw and was glad... Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

There is in the Lord a Divine Trinity; and the Divine Unity was represented in Divine Trinity by the "three men," who were also called "angels" (Gen. 18:2; 19:1). But in His Divine Unity He was called "adonai" (Gen. 18:3; 19:18); and also "Jehovah," very frequently (Gen. 18:13-14, 17, 19-20, 22, 26, 33). The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before Moses is thus described in Exodus:

The Angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses at the mountain of Horeb, in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush;... Moses therefore said, I will turn aside and see this great vision, why the bush is not burnt. And Jehovah saw that he turned aside;... therefore God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.... And moreover Moses said to God, . . . What is Thy name?... God said,... I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Exod. 3[1], 2-4, 14).

The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before the whole people is thus also described in Exodus:

Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto the sons of Israel, that they be ready against the third day; for on the third day Jehovah will come down in the eyes of all the people upon Mount Sinai.... And it came to pass on the third day,... that there were voices, and lightnings, and thick clouds upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.... Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because He descended upon it in fire; and He promulgated the law before the people (Exod. 19:9-24, and 20:1-18).

The Lord also appeared to Joshua as Prince of the army of Jehovah, before whom Joshua fell on his face upon the earth, and called him his "Lord" (Josh. 5:13-14).

THE CALLING OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL TO THE LAND OF CANAAN, thus to the Church, also took place three times; once to Abram, that he should depart thereto out of his fatherland, and afterwards the promise that his seed should inherit that land (Gen. 12:1-7). A calling also took place through Moses (Exod. 3:16-17); and again through Joshua (Josh. 1:3, etc., and 11).

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