The Bible

 

Genesis 19

Study

   

1 And the two angels came to Sodom ii in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground,

2 And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

3 He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come in to his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate:

4 But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together.

5 And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them:

6 Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

7 no not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

8 I have two daughters who as yet have not known man : I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.

9 But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a, stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. 0 And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

10 And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door:

11 And them that were without, p they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

12 And they said to Lot: Hast thou here ally of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:

13 For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

14 So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said : Arise : get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

15 And when it was- morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.

16 And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.

17 And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying : Save thy life : look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but Save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

18 And Lot said to them: I beseech thee my Lord,

19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die :

20 There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

22 Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.

23 The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

24 And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

25 And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

26 And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.

27 And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, U

28 He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

29 Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.

30 And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Segor,) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

31 And the elder said to the younger Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.

32 Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in and lay with her father : but he perceived not neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

34 And the next day the elder said to the younger : Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

35 They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

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

37 And the elder bore a son, and called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38 The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1589

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1589. 'Like the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar' means facts acquired from affections for good. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Egypt', dealt with in 1164, 1165, in a good sense in 1462, as knowledge, and from the meaning of 'Zoar' as the affection for good. Zoar was a city not far from Sodom, to which also Lot fled when he was snatched by angels from the fire of Sodom, as described in Genesis 19:20, 22, 30. In addition to this, Zoar is referred to in Genesis 14:2, 8; Deuteronomy 34:3; Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34, in all of which places also it means an affection. And since it means the affection for good, it also means in the contrary sense, as is usual, the affection for evil.

[2] There are three constituent parts of the external man - rational, factual, and external sensory. The rational part is more interior, the factual more exterior, and the external sensory the most external. The rational is the part by means of which the internal man is joined to the external, the character of the rational determining the character of this conjunction. The external sensory part consists in the present instance in sight and hearing. But in itself the rational has no existence if affection does not flow into it, making it active so as to receive life. Consequently the rational receives its character from that of the affection flowing into it. When the affection for good flows in, that affection for good becomes with the rational an affection for truth; and the contrary happens when the affection for evil flows in. Because the factual part attaches itself to the rational and serves as its agent it also follows that the affection flows into and reorganizes the factual part. For nothing has life in the external man apart from affection. The reason is that the affection for good comes down from the celestial, that is, from celestial love, which imparts life to everything into which it flows, even to affections for evil, that is, to evil desires.

[3] Actually the good of love from the Lord flows in constantly, doing so through the internal man into the external. But anyone who is governed by an affection for evil, that is, by an evil desire, corrupts that good. Nevertheless the life brought to it remains. Such may be seen from a comparison with objects on which the sun's rays fall. There are some objects which accept them in a most beautiful way, converting them into the most beautiful colours, as a diamond, ruby, jacinth, sapphire, and other precious stones do. Other objects however do not accept them in that manner but convert them into the ugliest colours. The same point may be shown from the very characters of people. There are some who accept the good actions of another with every display of affection, while others convert them into evil. From this it becomes clear what the knowledge acquired from affections for good is which is meant by 'the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar' when the rational is 'like the garden of Jehovah'.

  
/ 10837  
  

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