The Bible

 

Genesis 16

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1 Sarai pak manželka Abramova jemu nerodila; a měla děvku Egyptskou, jménem Agar.

2 I řekla Sarai Abramovi: Aj, nyní Hospodin zavřel život můj, abych nerodila; vejdi, prosím, k děvce mé, zda bych aspoň z ní mohla míti syny. I povolil Abram řeči Sarai.

3 Tedy vzavši Sarai manželka Abramova Agar Egyptskou děvku svou, po desíti letech, jakž bydliti počal Abram v zemi Kananejské, dala ji Abramovi muži svému za ženu.

4 I všel k Agar, kterážto počala. Viduci pak ona, že počala, zlehčila sobě paní svou.

5 I řekla Sarai Abramovi: Křivdou mou tys vinen; já jsem dala děvku svou v lůno tvé, kterážto viduci, že počala, zlehčila mne sobě. Sudiž Hospodin mezi mnou a mezi tebou.

6 I řekl Abram k Sarai: Aj, děvka tvá v moci tvé; učiň s ní, cožť se za dobré vidí. Tedy trápila ji Sarai, a ona utekla od ní.

7 Našel ji pak anděl Hospodinův u studnice vody na poušti, u studnice té, kteráž jest při cestě Sur.

8 A řekl: Agar, děvko Sarai, odkud jdeš, a kam se béřeš? I řekla: Od tváři Sarai paní své já utíkám.

9 Tedy řeklanděl Hospodinův: Navrať se ku paní své, a pokoř se pod ruku její.

10 Opět řekl anděl Hospodinův: Velice rozmnožím símě tvé, aniž bude moci sečteno býti pro množství.

11 Potom také řekl anděl Hospodinův: Aj, ty jsi těhotná, a tudíž porodíš syna, a nazůveš jméno jeho Izmael; nebo uslyšel Hospodin trápení tvé.

12 Budeť pak lítý člověk; ruce jeho proti všechněm, a ruce všech proti němu; a před tváří všech bratří svých bydliti bude.

13 I nazvala Agar jméno Hospodinovo, kterýž mluvil jí: Ty jsi silný Bůh vidění; nebo řekla: Zdaliž teď také nevidím po tom, kterýž mne viděl?

14 Protož nazvala studnici tu studnicí Živého vidoucího mne. Aj, ta jest mezi Kádes a Barad.

15 Porodila pak Agar Abramovi syna; a nazval Abram jméno syna svého, kteréhož porodila Agar, Izmael.

16 Abram pak byl v osmdesáti šesti letech, když mu porodila Agar Izmaele.

   

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.