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創世記 17

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1 亞伯蘭歲的時候,耶和華向他顯現,對他:我是全能的神。你當在我面前作完全人,

2 我就與你立約,使你的後裔極其繁多。

3 亞伯蘭俯伏在地;又對他

4 我與你立約:你要作多國的父。

5 從此以後,你的名不再亞伯蘭,要亞伯拉罕,因為我已立你作多國的父。

6 我必使你的後裔極其繁多;國度從你而立,君從你而出。

7 我要與你並你世世代裔堅立我的約,作永遠的約,是要作你和你裔的

8 我要將你現在寄居的,就是迦南,賜你和你的永遠為業,我也必作他們的

9 又對亞伯拉罕:你和你的裔必世世代遵守我的約。

10 你們所有的男子都要受割禮;這就是我與你並你的裔所立的約,是你們所當遵守的。

11 你們都要受割禮(原文作割陽皮;14,23,24,25節同);這是我與你們立約的證據。

12 你們世世代的男子,無論是家裡生的,是在你後裔之外用子從外人買的,生下來第八日,都要受割禮

13 你家裡生的和你用子買的,都必須受割禮。這樣,我的約就立在你們體上作永遠的約。

14 但不受割禮的男子必從民中剪除,因他背了我的約。

15 又對亞伯拉罕:你的妻子撒萊不可再撒萊,他的名要撒拉。

16 我必賜福他,也要使你從他得一個兒子。我要賜福他,他也要作多國之母;必有百姓的君從他而出。

17 亞伯拉罕就俯伏在地喜笑,:一歲的人還能得孩子麼?撒拉已經九十歲了,還能生養麼?

18 亞伯拉罕:但願以實瑪利活在你面前。

19 :不然,你妻子撒拉要給你生一個兒子,你要給他起名以撒。我要與他堅定所立的約,作他永遠的約。

20 至於以實瑪利,我也應允你:我必賜福他,使他昌盛,極其繁多。他必生十二個族長;我也要使他成為國。

21 到明年這時節,撒拉必給你生以撒,我要與他堅定所立的約。

22 亞伯拉罕完了話,就離開他上升去了。

23 正當那日,亞伯拉罕遵著的命,給他的兒子以實瑪利和家裡的一切男子,無論是在家裡生的,是用子買的,都行了割禮

24 亞伯拉罕割禮的時候年歲。

25 兒子以實瑪利割禮的時候年十三歲。

26 正當那日,亞伯拉罕和他兒子以實瑪利一同受了割禮

27 家裡所有的人,無論是在家裡生的,是用子從外人買的,也都一同受了割禮

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2025

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2025. That 'I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings' means that the Lord acquired to Himself by His own powers all things meant by 'the land of sojournings' is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction, dealt with in 1463. And because man acquires life to himself chiefly through instruction in facts, matters of doctrine, and cognitions of faith, sojourning is consequently the life so acquired. When applied to the Lord it is the life which He obtained for Himself through cognitions, through the conflicts that constituted temptations, and through victories in temptations; and because He obtained it by His own powers, this is what 'the land of your sojournings' means here.

[2] That the Lord obtained all things for Himself by His own powers, and by His own powers united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and Divine Essence to Human Essence, and that He alone in this way became righteousness, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Who is this coming from Edom, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. I looked around and there was no one helping; and I was astonished that there was no one upholding; therefore My own arm brought Me salvation. Isaiah 63:1, 3, 5.

'Edom' stands for the Lord's Human Essence, 'strength' and 'arm' for power. Plain statements to the effect that He acted from His own power are contained in the phrases 'no one helping' and 'no one upholding', and in that about His own arm bringing Him salvation.

[3] In the same prophet,

He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was nobody to intercede; and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.

This similarly means that He acted by His own power, and in so doing became righteousness. That the Lord is righteousness is stated in Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24.

And in Jeremiah,

I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign as king and act with understanding, and He will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

For this reason He is also called 'the Habitation of Righteousness' in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7, and 'wonderful' and 'Hero' in Isaiah 9:6.

[4] The reason why the Lord so many times attributes to the Father that which is His own has been explained above in 1999, 2004; for Jehovah was within Him, and so within every single part of Him. Something similar in man may be used for illustration, although there can be no comparison. Within man is his soul, and because it is within him, the soul is within every individual part of him, that is to say, within every individual part of his thinking and every individual part of his activity. Anything that does not have his soul within it is not part of him. The Lord's soul was Life itself or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, for He was conceived from Jehovah; thus Life itself was present within every individual part of Him. And because Life itself, or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, belonged to Him in the way that the soul does to man, so that which was Jehovah's was His, which is what the Lord says in His statements about His being in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and about all things that the Father has being His, John 16:15; 17:10-11.

[5] From good which is Jehovah's He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, and from truth united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and so achieved every single thing all from Himself. Indeed His Human was left to Itself in order that of Himself He might fight against all the hells and overcome them; and because He had life within Himself, as stated, which was His own, He overcame them by His own power and strength, as is also clearly stated in the places quoted from the Prophets. So then, because He acquired all things to Himself by His own powers, He became Righteousness, cleared the world of spirits of hellish genii and spirits, and in so doing rescued the human race from destruction - for the human race is governed by means of spirits - and thus redeemed it. This is why the Old Testament Word speaks so often of Him as Rescuer and Redeemer, and also Saviour, as His name Jesus describes.

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