The Bible

 

Genesis 19

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1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed down, the face toward the ground,

2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and lodge, and wash your feet; and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, No; but we will pass the night in the open place.

3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house. And he made them a repast, and baked unleavened cakes; and they ate.

4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the youngest to the oldest -- all the people from every quarter.

5 And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men that have come in to thee to-night? bring them out to us that we may know them.

6 And Lot went out to them to the entrance, and shut the door after him,

7 and said, I pray you, my brethren, do not wickedly!

8 Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known a man: let me now bring them out to you; and do to them as is good in your sight: only, to these men do nothing; for therefore have they come under the shadow of my roof.

9 And they said, Back there! And they said [again], This one came to sojourn, and he must be a judge? Now we will deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed hard on the man -- on Lot; and drew near to break the door.

10 And the men stretched out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

11 And they smote the men that were at the entrance of the house with blindness, from the smallest to the greatest; and they wearied themselves to find the entrance.

12 And the men said to Lot, Whom hast thou here besides? a son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all whom thou hast in the city -- bring [them] out of the place.

13 For we are going to destroy this place, because the cry of them is great before Jehovah, and Jehovah has sent us to destroy it.

14 And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, Up, go out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he was as if he jested, in the sight of his sons-in-law.

15 And as the dawn arose, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take thy wife and thy two daughters who are present, lest thou perish in the iniquity of the city.

16 And as he lingered, the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful to him; and they led him out, and set him without the city.

17 And it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for thy life: look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: Escape to the mountain, lest thou perish.

18 And Lot said to them, Not [so], I pray thee, Lord;

19 behold now, thy servant has found favour in thine eyes, and thou hast magnified thy goodness, which thou hast shewn to me in preserving my soul alive; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest calamity lay hold on me, that I die.

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is small: I pray thee, let me escape thither -- is it not small? -- and my soul shall live.

21 And he said to him, Behold, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken.

22 Haste, escape thither; for I cannot do anything until thou art come there. Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.

23 The sun rose upon the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

24 And Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven,

25 and overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew upon the ground.

26 And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham rose early in the morning [and went] to the place where he had stood before Jehovah;

28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, a smoke went up from the land as the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

30 And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar. And he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31 And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come in to us after the manner of all the earth:

32 come, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father.

33 And they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father, and he did not know of her lying down, nor of her rising.

34 And it came to pass on the next day that the first-born said to the younger, Lo, I lay last night with my father: let us give him wine to drink to-night also, and go thou in, lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father.

35 And they gave their father wine to drink that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he did not know of her lying down, nor of her rising.

36 And both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day.

38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; the same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #49

  
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49. It was stated above, that the first state with the sons of Israel, was the appearing of the Lord Jehovih, calling and covenanting; and we are taught from the Word, that these three things took place, first with Abram, secondly with Moses, and thirdly with the entire people. The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before Abraham is thus described in Genesis:

Jehovah appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre; he was sitting at the door of his tent,... and when he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold! three men stood by him, and as soon as he saw them, he ran from the door of the tent to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, O Lord, if I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not away, I pray, from Thy servant (Gen. 18:1-3).

It was the Lord our Saviour who appeared in His Divine Trinity, which the three angels represented; for the Lord said,

Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw and was glad... Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

There is in the Lord a Divine Trinity; and the Divine Unity was represented in Divine Trinity by the "three men," who were also called "angels" (Gen. 18:2; 19:1). But in His Divine Unity He was called "adonai" (Gen. 18:3; 19:18); and also "Jehovah," very frequently (Gen. 18:13-14, 17, 19-20, 22, 26, 33). The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before Moses is thus described in Exodus:

The Angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses at the mountain of Horeb, in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush;... Moses therefore said, I will turn aside and see this great vision, why the bush is not burnt. And Jehovah saw that he turned aside;... therefore God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.... And moreover Moses said to God, . . . What is Thy name?... God said,... I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Exod. 3[1], 2-4, 14).

The appearing of the Lord Jehovih before the whole people is thus also described in Exodus:

Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto the sons of Israel, that they be ready against the third day; for on the third day Jehovah will come down in the eyes of all the people upon Mount Sinai.... And it came to pass on the third day,... that there were voices, and lightnings, and thick clouds upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.... Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because He descended upon it in fire; and He promulgated the law before the people (Exod. 19:9-24, and 20:1-18).

The Lord also appeared to Joshua as Prince of the army of Jehovah, before whom Joshua fell on his face upon the earth, and called him his "Lord" (Josh. 5:13-14).

THE CALLING OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL TO THE LAND OF CANAAN, thus to the Church, also took place three times; once to Abram, that he should depart thereto out of his fatherland, and afterwards the promise that his seed should inherit that land (Gen. 12:1-7). A calling also took place through Moses (Exod. 3:16-17); and again through Joshua (Josh. 1:3, etc., and 11).

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