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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 #3030

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3030. 'Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land' means doubt in the natural man as to whether that affection was separable. This is clear from the meaning of 'the woman' as truth, here truth from the natural, that was to be joined to the Divine good of the Rational, though as all joining together is effected by means of affection, as stated above in 3024, 'the women' accordingly means the affection for that truth; and from the meaning of 'going after me', or following, 'to this land' as being separated from the natural and joined to the Rational, for 'land' here, as above in 3026, means the good of love which belongs to the Rational. The fact that doubt is meant may be seen from the remark 'perhaps she is not willing to'. From what has been stated above one may see what is embodied in these words and those that follow to verse 8, and beyond that. Yet to make them even more intelligible let a little more be stated here.

[2] The genuine rational derives its being from good but its manifestation from truth. Good flows in by an internal route, but truth by an external route. In this manner good joins itself in the rational to truth and causes it to be the rational. Unless good is joined there to truth it is not the rational, even though it may seem to be because of the person's ability to reason, 1944. This is the normal way in which the rational is formed with man.

[3] Now because the Lord was born like any other, and was willing to be taught like any other, He was also willing in a like manner to make His Rational Divine, that is to say, to make it Divine as regards good through influx from His Divine by the internal route, and as regards truth through influx by the external route. The Rational was therefore so formed as regards good that it was in a state ready to receive truth. (That forming is meant by the opening words of this chapter, 'Abraham, being old, was advanced in years, and Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things', namely, when the state was reached for the Lord's Human to become Divine, and all things had been re-arranged by the Lord into Divine order, see 3016, 3017.) And there now follows the consideration that truth was to be joined to the good of the Rational. And this, as has been stated, was effected in the normal way, that is, by means of facts and cognitions summoned from the natural man.

[4] The good itself of the rational which is formed by the internal route is the ground itself, while truth is the seed that is to be sown in the ground. The genuine rational is born in no other way. So that the Rational might be formed in the same way in the Lord and be made Divine by His own power, the Lord came into the world and was willing to be born like any other. Otherwise he could have assumed a human presence without being born at all as He had done on many occasions in ancient times when He had appeared to men. These are the considerations contained in this chapter, namely the following: The way in which truth was summoned from the natural man to be joined to the good of the rational; and - since the good there was Divine - the truth there was to become Divine too. To man, especially to one who does not know that the rational is anything distinct and separate from the natural and who therefore does not know that the rational is formed by consecutive stages, by means of cognitions, all of this is so utterly obscure as to be unintelligible to him. But to those who do know something about the rational and the natural man, and have some enlightenment, such considerations are among those that are quite easy to grasp. And angels see them plainly as if in broad daylight. To gain some idea of them, see the following points that have been stated and shown already:

As to truth the rational is formed through influx into knowledge and cognitions, 1495, 1563, 1900, 1964.

It is not born from knowledge and cognitions but from the affection for these, 1895, 1900.

Knowledge and cognitions are merely vessels for good, 1469, 1496.

Empty facts have to be destroyed, 1489, 1492, 1499, 1500.

In the rational the affection for good is present as the soul within the affection for truth, 2072.

What the affection for rational truth and for factual truth are, 2503.

By means of cognitions the external man is joined to the internal man, that is, the rational man to the natural man, when cognitions are implanted in the celestial things of love and charity, 1450, 1451, 1453, 1616.

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