The Bible

 

Genesis 25

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1 And Abraham married another wife, named Cetura:

2 Who bore to him Zamran, and Jecsan, and Madan, and Madian, and Jesboc, and Sue.

3 Jecsan also begot Saba and Dadan. The children of Dadan were Assurim, and Latusim, and Loomin.

4 But of Madian was born Epha, and Opher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaa: all these were the children of Cetura.

5 And Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac.

6 And to the children of the concubines he gave gifts, and separated them from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, to the east country.

7 And the days of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five years.

8 And decaying he died in a good old age, and having lived a long time, and being full of days: and was gathered to his people.

9 And Isaac and Ismael his sons buried him in the double cave, which was situated in the field of Ephron the son of Seor the Hethite, over against Mambre;

10 Which he had bought of the children of Heth: there was he buried, and Sara his wife.

11 And after his death, God blessed Isaac his son, who dwelt by the well named Of the living and seeing.

12 These are the generations of Ismael the son of Abraham, whom Agar the Egyptian, Sara's servant, bore unto him:

13 And these are the names of his children according to their calling and generations. The firstborn of Ismael was Nabajoth, then Cedar, and Adbeel, and Mabsam.

14 And Masma, and Duma, and Massa,

15 Hadar, and Thema, and Jethur, and Naphis, and Cedma.

16 These are the sons of Ismael: and these are their names by their castles and towns, twelve princes of their tribes.

17 And the years of Ismael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven, and decaying he died, and was gathered unto his people.

18 And he dwelt from Hevila as far as Sur, which looketh towards Egypt, to them that go towards the Assyrians. He died in the presence of all his brethren.

19 These also are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac:

20 Who when he was forty years old, took to wife Rebecca the daughter of Bathuel the Syrian of Mesopotamia, sister to Laban.

21 And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive.

22 But the children struggled in her womb: and she said: If it were to be so with me, what need was there to conceive? And she went to consult the Lord.

23 And he answering said: Two nations are in thy womb, and Two peoples shall be divided out of thy womb, and one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.

24 And when her time was come to be delivered, behold twins were found in her womb.

25 He that came forth first was red, and hairy like a skin: and his name was called Esau. Immediately the other coming forth, held his brother's foot in his hand, and therefore he was called Jacob.

26 Isaac was threescore years old when the children were born unto him.

27 And when they were grown up, Esau became a skillful hunter, and a husbandman, but Jacob a plain man dwelt in tents.

28 Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his hunting: and Rebecca loved Jacob.

29 And Jacob boiled Pottage: to whom Esau, coming faint out of the field,

30 Said: Give me of this red pottage, for I am exceeding faint. For which reason his name was called Edom.

31 And Jacob said to him: Sell me thy first birthright.

32 He answered: Lo I die, what will the first birthright avail me.

33 Jacob said: Swear therefore to me. Esau swore to him, and sold his first birthright.

34 And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3264

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3264. 'Whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant-girl, bore to Abraham' means the birth of the spiritual man brought about by Divine influx into the affection for knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing' as coming into being, dealt with in 2621, 2629, from the representation of 'Hagar the Egyptian' as the life of the exterior man', dealt with in 1896, 1909, and from the meaning of 'servant-girl' as the affection for knowledge and cognitions which belong in the exterior man, dealt with in 1895, 2691. She is called 'Sarah's servant-girl' because 'Sarah' represents the Lord's Divine Truth to which the affection for knowledge and cognitions of truth was subordinate. Since Ishmael represents the spiritual man it is evident that the words 'Whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant-girl, bore to Abraham' mean the birth of the spiritual man brought about by Divine influx into the affection for knowledge. This is the way in which man's rational is born, see 1895, 1896, 1902, 1910, 2094, 2557, 3030, 3074, and therefore the way in which his spiritual is born, seeing that this has no existence except within the rational.

[2] Consequently the spiritual man and the rational man are practically the same. The difference between one spiritual person and another lies solely in what each person's reason and his life resulting from this are like. Their birth or regeneration is brought about by Divine influx into the affection for cognitions, see 1555, 1904, 2046, 2063, 2189, 2657, 2675, 2691 (end), 2697, 2979. See what has been stated and shown already about Ishmael - that he represented the Lord's first rational which was not as yet Divine, 1893, and that later on he represented those who are truly rational, or who are spiritual, 2078, 2691, and so represented the Lord's spiritual Church, 2699.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2189

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2189. They said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? means rational truth, which did not at that time show itself because it existed within rational good. This is clear from the representation of 'Sarah' here as rational truth, dealt with above in 2173. The implications of these things - as also of those that follow where the state of the Lord's Rational is the subject, which state is represented by 'Sarah' - cannot so easily be explained intelligibly unless the general nature of the state of the rational as regards good and as regards truth is known; and also in the Lord's case as regards the Divine and as regards the Human in which He was at that time.

[2] The first and foremost element of the rational with man is truth, as stated already in 2072, and therefore it is the affection for truth, which exists with man to enable him to be reformed and so regenerated, such reformation being effected by means of cognitions and facts, which are matters of truth. These are being constantly implanted in good, that is, in charity, so that in this manner he may receive the life of charity. It is therefore the affection for truth with man that predominates in his rational. For the situation with the life of charity, which is the life of heaven itself, is that in people who are being reformed and regenerated it is constantly being born and developing and increasing, such growth being achieved by means of truths. Therefore the more truth that is implanted, the more is the life of charity perfected. Thus as is the nature and the amount of truth present with man, so is the charity present with him.

[3] These few observations may to some extent show what the position is with man's rational. Within truth however no life is present, only within good. Truth is merely the recipient of life, that is, of good. Truth is like the clothing or a garment worn by good. In the Word too therefore truths are called clothes, and also garments. But when good composes the rational, truth passes out of sight and becomes as though it was good; for good is now shining through the truth, in the same way as when angels are seen clothed they appear in brightness that looks like a garment, as also was the case when angels appeared before the prophets.

[4] These then are the implications of the explanation given, that rational truth did not at that time show itself because it existed within rational good, meant by 'they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife?' But because the Lord's Rational Good at that time was Divine, as it can never be with any angel, it cannot be described other than by the use of a comparison, thus by the use of an illustration presenting something similar but not the same.

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