The Bible

 

Postanak 17

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1 Kad je Abramu bilo devedeset i devet godina, ukaza mu se Jahve pa mu reče: "Ja sam El Šadaj - Bog Svesilni, Mojim hodi putem i neporočan budi.

2 A Savez svoj ja sklapam s tobom i silno ću te razmnožiti."

3 Abram pade ničice dok mu Bog govoraše dalje:

4 "A ovo je Savez moj s tobom: postat ćeš ocem mnogim narodima;

5 i nećeš se više zvati Abram - već Abraham će ti ime biti, jer naroda mnogih ocem ja te postavljam.

6 Silno ću te rodnim učiniti; narode ću iz tebe izvesti; i kraljevi će od tebe izaći.

7 Savez svoj sklapam između sebe i tebe i tvoga potomstva poslije tebe - Savez svoj za vjekove: ja ću biti Bogom tvojim i tvoga potomstva poslije tebe.

8 Tebi i tvome potomstvu poslije tebe dajem zemlju u kojoj boraviš kao pridošlica - svu zemlju kanaansku - u vjekovni posjed; a ja ću biti njihov Bog."

9 Još reče Bog Abrahamu: "A ti Savez čuvaj moj - ti i tvoje potomstvo poslije tebe u sve vijeke.

10 A ovo je Savez moj s tobom i tvojim potomstvom poslije tebe koji ćeš vršiti: svako muško među vama neka bude obrezano.

11 Obrezujte se, i to neka bude znak Saveza između mene i vas.

12 Svako muško među vama, kroz vaša pokoljenja, kad mu se navrši osam dana, neka bude obrezano; i rob, rođen u vašem domu, i onaj što bude kupljen od stranca, koji ne bude od vaše krvi.

13 Da, i rob rođen u tvome domu ili za novac kupljen mora se obrezati! Tako će moj Savez na vašem tijelu ostati vječnim Savezom.

14 Muško koje se ne bi obrezalo neka se odstrani od svoga roda: takav je prekršio moj Savez."

15 Još reče Bog Abrahamu: "Tvojoj ženi Saraji nije više ime Saraja: Sara će joj ime biti.

16 Nju ću ja blagosloviti i od nje ti dati sina; blagoslov ću na nju izliti te će se narodi od nje razviti; kraljevi će narodima od nje poteći."

17 Abraham pade ničice pa se nasmija i reče u sebi: "Onome komu je stotinu godina, zar se može roditi dijete? Zar će Sara u devedesetoj rod rađati!"

18 Abraham reče Bogu: "Neka tvojom milošću Jišmael poživi!"

19 A Bog reče: "Ipak će ti tvoja žena Sara roditi sina; nadjeni mu ime Izak. Savez svoj s njime ću sklopiti, Savez vječni s njime i s njegovim potomstvom poslije njega.

20 I za Jišmaela uslišah te. Evo ga blagoslivljam: rodnim ću ga učiniti i silno ga razmnožiti; dvanaest će knezova od njega postati i u velik će narod izrasti.

21 Ali ću držati svoj Savez s Izakom, koga će ti roditi Sara dogodine u ovo doba."

22 Kad je završio razgovor s njim, od Abrahama Bog se podiže.

23 Uzme zatim Abraham svoga sina Jišmaela i sve robove koji su bili rođeni u njegovu domu i sve koje je kupio novcem - sve muške ukućane - pa ih toga istog dana obreže, kako mu je Bog rekao.

24 Abrahamu bijaše devedeset i devet godina kad se obrezao,

25 a njegovu sinu Jišmaelu bijaše trinaest godina kad ga obreza.

26 Tako su toga istog dana bili obrezani Abraham i njegov sin Jišmael;

27 i svi muškarci njegova doma, rođeni u njegovoj kući ili za novac kupljeni od stranca - svi s njim bijahu obrezani.

   

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.