The Bible

 

Genesis 12

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1 And Jehovah had said to Abram, Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, to the land that I will shew thee.

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

4 And Abram departed as Jehovah had said to him. And Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran.

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had acquired, and the souls that they had obtained in Haran, and they went out to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

6 And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 And Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.

8 And he removed thence towards the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, [having] Bethel toward the west, and Ai toward the east; and there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called on the name of Jehovah.

9 And Abram moved onward, going on still toward the south.

10 And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.

11 And it came to pass when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a woman fair to look upon.

12 And it will come to pass when the Egyptians see thee, that they will say, She is his wife; and they will slay me, and save thee alive.

13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me on thy account, and my soul may live because of thee.

14 And it came to pass when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.

15 And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

16 And he treated Abram well on her account; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and bondmen, and bondwomen, and she-asses, and camels.

17 And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.

18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this thou hast done to me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

19 Why didst thou say, She is my sister, so that I took her as my wife. And now, behold, there is thy wife: take [her], and go away.

20 And Pharaoh commanded [his] men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1488

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1488. 'And his house' means which He had gathered together. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'house' here as facts that are gathered together. Gathering facts together and by means of them raising and building up the external man is not unlike building a house, and therefore similar ideas are meant in various parts of the Word by 'building', and by 'building houses', as in Isaiah,

I am creating new heavens and a new earth. They will build houses and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit. Isaiah 65:17, 21-22.

Here 'houses' means where there are wisdom and intelligence, thus where there are the cognitions of good and truth, for the Lord's kingdom is the subject, that is, 'new heavens and a new earth'. In Jeremiah,

Build houses and inhabit them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jeremiah 29:5.

Here the meaning is similar. In David,

Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah, who delights greatly in His commandments! Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness stands for ever. Psalms 112:1, 3.

Here 'wealth and riches' stands for the wealth and riches of wisdom and intelligence, thus for cognitions, which are 'in his house', that is, residing with him.

[2] 'House' is also used in the contrary sense: in Zephaniah,

I will visit those who say in their hearts, Jehovah has not done good nor has He done evil; and their wealth will be for plunder, and their houses for desolation, and they will build houses and not inhabit them, and they will plant vineyards and not drink [their] wine. Zephaniah 1:12-13.

In Haggai,

Go up into the mountain and bring wood and build the house. You looked for much, and behold it was little; and when you brought it home 1 I blew it away. For what reason? said Jehovah. Because of My house which has been left derelict while you run each to his own house. Therefore above you the heavens have withheld their dew. Haggai 1:8-10.

'Houses' stands for facts through which, by means of reasoning, falsities come. In Isaiah,

The vineyard of Jehovah is the house of Israel. 2 Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field until there is no room and you dwell alone in the midst of the land! Will not many houses be a desolation, large and good ones, without inhabitant? Isaiah 5:7-9.

Here also 'houses' stands for facts through which come falsities. In Amos,

Behold, Jehovah commands, and He will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts. Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough there with oxen? that you turn judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11-12.

Here similarly 'houses' stands for falsities and derivative evils, 'horses' for reasoning, 'judgement' for truths which are 'turned into poison', and 'the fruits of righteousness' for goods which are 'turned into wormwood'.

[3] Thus in various parts of the Word 'houses' stands for human minds in which intelligence and wisdom ought to be present. Here 'the house of Pharaoh' stands for facts by means of which comes intelligence and by means of this wisdom. Similar things were also meant by 'the house which Solomon built for Pharaoh's daughter', 1 Kings 7:8 and following verses. Because 'a house' stands for minds that have intelligence and wisdom within them, and that have within them affections that belong to the will, therefore the word 'house' in the Word has a wide range of meaning, but what it means in a specific instance becomes clear from the things to which it has reference. In addition man himself is called 'a house'.

Footnotes:

1. literally, into the house

2. These words seem to have been added as an afterthought and without reference. They have been restored to their correct place.

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