The Bible

 

Genesis 21

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1 And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did to Sarah as he had spoken.

2 And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5 And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 And Sarah said, God has made me laugh: all that hear will laugh with me.

7 And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, Sarah will suckle children? For I have borne [him] a son in his old age.

8 And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

10 And she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son -- with Isaac.

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

12 And God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy handmaid: [in] all that Sarah hath said to thee hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall a seed be called to thee.

13 But also the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a flask of water, and gave [it] to Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder -- and the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 And the water was exhausted from the flask; and she cast the child under one of the shrubs,

16 and she went and sat down over against [him], a bow-shot off; for she said, Let me not behold the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and lifted up her voice and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad. And the Angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens, and said to her, What [aileth] thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad there, where he is.

18 Arise, take the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make of him a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the flask with water, and gave the lad drink.

20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech, and Phichol the captain of his host, spoke to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest.

23 And now swear to me here by God that thou wilt not deal deceitfully with me, nor with my son, nor with my grandson. According to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land in which thou sojournest.

24 And Abraham said, I will swear.

25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water that Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.

26 And Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this, neither hast thou told me [of it], neither have I heard [of it] but to-day.

27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

28 And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What [mean] these seven ewe-lambs, these which thou hast set by themselves?

30 And he said, That thou take the seven ewe-lambs of my hand, that they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well.

31 Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba, because there they had sworn, both of them.

32 And they made a covenant at Beer-sheba. And Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the captain of his host, and returned into the land of the Philistines.

33 And [Abraham] planted a tamarisk in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Jehovah, the Eternal ùGod.

34 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3228

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3228. CHAPTER 25

The subject in this chapter is the sons of Abraham by Keturah, and then also the sons of Ishmael, who are mentioned by name. After that Isaac and Rebekah are referred to - that is, the birth of Esau and Jacob to them; and finally a description is given of how Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for lentil pottage. Anyone may see that these details are such as do indeed serve to present that period in the history of the Church, but that they are of little use where spiritual life is concerned, for the sake of which the Word exists. What value is it to anyone if he knows who the sons were that were born to Abraham by Keturah, and who that were born to Ishmael; and also if he knows that Esau, when exhausted from hunting, desired the lentil pottage, and that Jacob by being crafty in that situation acquired the birthright in exchange for that pottage? Similarly with the next chapter. What value is it to anyone if he knows that Abimelech's herdsmen disputed with Isaac's over the wells which they had dug, in almost the same way as they had done previously with Abraham's herdsmen in Chapter 21? In addition some places include mere lists of names, as in Chapter 36, where the descendants of Esau are listed. And the same is true with every other chapter. As historical narratives they contain so little of the Divine that you cannot possibly refer to them as that Word which is Divinely inspired as to every word and even to every jot - that is, the Word which was sent down from the Lord by way of heaven to the one who wrote those things. For what has been sent down from the Lord is Divine in every single part. Thus, being the exploits of men, the historical descriptions are not Divine, except by virtue of the things which are contained deeply concealed within those descriptions, every single one of which has regard to the Lord and His kingdom. In embodying such things within them the historical narratives of the Word are quite different from and superior to all other historical writings in all the world.

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