The Bible

 

創世記 16

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1 亞伯蘭的妻子撒萊不給他生兒女。撒萊有一個使女,名叫夏甲,是埃及人。

2 撒萊對亞伯蘭耶和華使我不能生育。求你和我的使女同房,或者我可以因他得孩子(原文作被建立)。亞伯蘭聽從了撒萊的話。

3 於是亞伯蘭的妻子撒萊將使女埃及人夏甲丈夫為妾;那時亞伯蘭迦南已經年。

4 亞伯蘭與夏甲同房,夏甲就懷了孕;他見自己有孕,就小他的主母。

5 撒萊對亞伯蘭:我因你受屈。我將我的使女放在你中,他見自己有了孕,就小我。願耶和華在你我中間判斷

6 亞伯蘭對撒萊:使女在你下,你可以隨意待他。撒萊苦待他,他就從撒萊面前逃走了。

7 耶和華的使者在曠野書珥上的泉旁遇見他,

8 對他:撒萊的使女夏甲,你從那裡?要往那裡去?夏甲:我從我的主母撒萊面前逃出

9 耶和華的使者對他:你回到你母那裡,服在他

10 :我必使你的後裔極其繁多,甚至不可勝

11 :你如今懷孕要生一個兒子,可以給他起名以實瑪利,因為耶和華見了你的苦情。(以實瑪利就是神見的意思)

12 他為人必像野驢。他的要攻打人,人的也要攻打他;他必住在眾弟兄的東邊。

13 夏甲就稱那對他說話耶和華顧人的神。因而:在這裡我也見那顧我的麼?

14 所以這庇耳拉海萊。這正在加低斯和巴列中間。

15 後來夏甲給亞伯蘭生了一個兒子亞伯蘭給他起名以實瑪利

16 夏甲給亞伯蘭以實瑪利的時候,亞伯蘭八十六歲。

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1921

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1921. 'Do to her what is good in your eyes' means complete control over. This is clear without explanation. In the internal sense these words represent and mean that by His own power the Lord overcame, subdued, and cast out the evil which from what was hereditary had wormed itself also into this first rational, for, as has been stated, the rational was conceived from the Internal Man, which was Jehovah, as a father, and born from the exterior as a mother. Whatever was born from the exterior man possessed this hereditary element within it, thus evil as well. This was what the Lord overcame, subdued, and cast out by His own power and at length made Divine. The fact that He did so by His own power is clear from every single detail in this verse - the comment, 'Your servant-girl is in your hand' which means that He had this rational under His controlling power, followed next by 'so to her what is good in your eyes' which means complete control over it; and immediately after that 'Sarai humiliated her' which means subjection.

[2] These things were said to Sarai, who represents intellectual truth which the Lord Himself had and was the source from which He thought, as stated above in 1904, 1914, and from this truth He had complete control over the rational and also over the natural that was part of the exterior man. Anyone who thinks from intellectual truth and perceives from Divine good - which good was also His because it was the Father's, for He had no other soul - cannot do other than act from the power that is his own. Since therefore by His own power He tamed and cast out the evil present by heredity, it was by His own power as well that He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence - the one being a consequence of the other.

[3] One who is conceived from Jehovah has no other Internal, that is, has none but Jehovah as his soul; for that reason He was as regards His very life itself Jehovah Himself. Jehovah, or the Divine Essence, cannot be divided in the way a human father's soul from which a child is conceived can be divided. To the extent the offspring moves away from the likeness of its father it moves away from the father himself, more and more so as it grows older. This is why a father's love for his children diminishes as they grow older. In the Lord's case it was different. As He grew older He did not so move away as regards the Human Essence but constantly drew closer until perfect union was achieved. From this it is clear that He is identical with Jehovah the Father, as He Himself also plainly teaches in John 14:6, 8-11.

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