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Genesis 15

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1 Když pak ty věci pominuly, stalo se slovo Hospodinovo k Abramovi u vidění, řkoucí: Neboj se, Abrame; já budu pavéza tvá, a odplata tvá velmi veliká.

2 Jemužto řekl Abram: Panovníče Hospodine, což mi dáš, poněvadž já scházím bez dětí, a ten, jemuž zanechám domu svého, bude Damašský Eliezer?

3 Řekl ještě Abram: Aj, mně jsi nedal semene; a aj, schovanec můj bude mým dědicem.

4 A aj, slovo Hospodinovo k němu, řkuci: Nebudeť ten dědicem tvým, ale kterýž vyjde z života tvého, ten dědicem tvým bude.

5 I vyvedl jej ven a řekl: Vzhlédniž nyní k nebi, a sečti hvězdy, budeš-li je však moci sčísti? řekl mu ještě: Tak bude símě tvé.

6 I uvěřil Hospodinu, a počteno mu to za spravedlnost.

7 (Nebo byl řekl jemu: Já jsem Hospodin, kterýž jsem tě vyvedl z Ur Kaldejských, aťbych dal zemi tuto k dědičnému vládařství.

8 I řekl: Panovníče Hospodine, po čem poznám, že ji dědičně obdržím?

9 I odpověděl jemu: Vezmi mně jalovici tříletou, a kozu tříletou, a skopce tříletého, hrdličku také a holoubátko.

10 Kterýžto vzav ty všecky věci, zroztínal je na poly, a rozložil na dvě straně, jednu polovici proti druhé; ptáků pak nezroztínal.

11 Ptáci pak sedali na ta mrtvá těla, a Abram je sháněl.

12 I stalo se, když slunce zapadalo, že dřímota těžká připadla na Abrama; a aj, hrůza a tma veliká obklíčila jej).

13 Řekl tedy Bůh Abramovi: To zajisté věz, že pohostinu bude símě tvé v zemi cizí, a v službu je podrobí, a trápiti je budou za čtyři sta let.

14 Však národ, jemuž sloužiti budou, já souditi budu; a potom vyjdou s velikým zbožím.

15 Ty pak půjdeš k otcům svým v pokoji; a pohřben budeš v starosti dobré.

16 A čtvrté pokolení sem se navrátí; nebť ještě není doplněna nepravost Amorejských.

17 I stalo se, když zapadlo slunce, a tma bylo, a aj, ukázala se pec kouřící se, a pochodně ohnivá, kteráž šla mezi díly těmi.

18 V ten den učinil Hospodin smlouvu s Abramem, řka: Semeni tvému dám zemi tuto, od řeky Egyptské až do řeky té veliké, řeky Eufraten:

19 Cinejské, Cenezejské, Cethmonské,

20 A Hetejské, Ferezejské, a Refaimské,

21 Amorejské, i Kananejské také, a Gergezejské a Jebuzejské.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1865

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1865. 'Saying, To your seed I will give this land' means the comfort experienced after these temptations and their horrors, to the effect that people who have charity and faith in Him will become His heirs. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' and from the meaning of 'land'. 'The seed of Abram' means love and faith that flows from love, as shown already in 255, 256, 1025, and consequently all who have charity and faith in the Lord. 'The land of Canaan' however means the Lord's kingdom, and therefore 'giving the land to your seed' means that the heavenly kingdom would be given as an inheritance to those who from charity have faith in Him.

[2] That these things brought comfort to the Lord following temptations and their horrors becomes clear without explanation. For after those grim events which He had witnessed - that is to say, after He had put to flight the evils and falsities meant by 'the birds of prey that came down on the carcasses and that Abram drove away', described in verse 11 - gross falsities nevertheless entered into Him, such as horrified Him, meant by 'the dread of a great darkness which came over Abram in a deep sleep', described in verse 12. This, together with the fact that in the end sheer falsities and evils took possession of the human race - meant by 'the smoking furnace and flaming torch which passed' between the pieces', referred to in verse 17 - inevitably caused Him distress and grief. Comfort therefore follows now, like that in verses 4 and 5 above, namely that His seed will inherit the land, that is, those who have charity and faith in Him will become heirs of His kingdom. The salvation of the human race was for Him the only comfort, for He was moved by Divine and celestial love and became, even as regards the Human Essence, that Divine and celestial love, in which solely the love for all is countenanced and entertained.

[3] That such is the nature of Divine love becomes clear from the love of parents towards their children, in that it increases with every descending degree of affinity, that is, it becomes greater towards later descendants than towards immediate offspring. Nothing ever exists without a cause or origin, and therefore this love towards descendants, present in the human race and ever increasing with each successive generation, cannot exist without them. The cause and origin of that love are attributable solely to the Lord, from whom all conjugial love and love of parents towards children flow. The source of that love is His love, which is such that He loves all as a father loves his sons, and wishes to make all his heirs, and provides an inheritance for those yet to be born, as he does for those born already.

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