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Genesis 21

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1 Ja Issand hoolitses Saara eest, nõnda nagu ta oli lubanud. Issand toimis Saaraga, nõnda nagu ta oli öelnud:

2 Saara jäi lapseootele ja tõi Aabrahamile poja ilmale ta vanas eas, määratud ajal, millest Jumal temaga oli rääkinud.

3 Ja Aabraham pani oma pojale, kes temale sündis, kelle Saara temale ilmale tõi, Iisak nimeks.

4 Ja Aabraham lõikas ümber oma poja Iisaki, kui see kaheksapäevane oli, nõnda nagu Jumal teda oli käskinud.

5 Ja Aabraham oli sada aastat vana, kui ta poeg Iisak temale sündis.

6 Aga Saara ütles: 'Jumal pani mind naerma! Igaüks, kes sellest kuuleb, naerab mind!'

7 Ja ta ütles: 'Kes oleks võinud Aabrahamile kuulutada, et Saara imetab veel lapsi? Ometi tõin ma temale poja ilmale ta vanas eas!'

8 Laps kasvas ja võõrutati; ja Aabraham tegi suure peo Iisaki võõrutamispäeval.

9 Kui Saara nägi mängimas egiptlanna Haagari poega, kelle see Aabrahamile oli ilmale toonud,

10 siis ta ütles Aabrahamile: 'Kihuta minema see teenija ja tema poeg, sest selle teenija poeg ei või pärida koos minu poja Iisakiga!'

11 See kõne aga oli Aabrahami silmis ta poja kohta väga paha.

12 Aga Jumal ütles Aabrahamile: 'Ärgu olgu see su silmis paha ei poisi ega su teenija kohta. Kõiges, mis Saara sulle ütleb, kuula ta sõna, sest Iisakist loetakse sinu sugu!

13 Aga ka teenija poja teen ma rahvaks, sest ta on ju sinu järeltulija.'

14 Ja Aabraham tõusis hommikul vara, võttis leiva ja veelähkri ning andis Haagarile, pannes need temale selga, samuti lapse ja saatis ta minema. Ja tema läks ning eksles Beer-Seba kõrbes.

15 Kui vesi lähkrist lõppes, siis ta jättis lapse ühe põõsa alla

16 ja läks ning istus temaga kohastikku, ammulaske kauguses, sest ta ütles: 'Ma ei või näha lapse surma!' Nõnda ta istus temaga kohastikku, tõstis häält ja nuttis.

17 Aga Jumal kuulis poisi häält ja Jumala ingel hüüdis taevast Haagarit ning ütles temale: 'Mis sul viga on, Haagar? Ära karda, sest Jumal on kuulnud poisi häält seal, kus ta on.

18 Tõuse, tõsta poiss üles ja võta ta käekõrvale, sest ma tahan temast teha suure rahva!'

19 Ja Jumal tegi ta silmad lahti, nõnda et ta nägi ühte veekaevu; ta läks ning täitis lähkri veega ja andis poisile juua.

20 Ja Jumal oli poisiga; ta kasvas ja elas kõrbes, ja temast sai ammukütt.

21 Ta elas Paarani kõrbes; ja ta ema võttis temale Egiptusemaalt naise.

22 Sel ajal rääkisid Abimelek ja tema väepealik Piikol Aabrahamiga, öeldes: 'Jumal on sinuga kõiges, mis sa teed.

23 Ja nüüd vannu mulle siin Jumala juures, et sa ei peta mind ega mu lapsi ja lapselapsi! Heateo pärast, mis ma sulle tegin, tee seda mulle ja maale, kus sa võõrana elad!'

24 Ja Aabraham ütles: 'Ma vannun!'

25 Aabraham aga noomis Abimelekit veekaevu pärast, mille Abimeleki sulased väevõimuga olid ära võtnud.

26 Kuid Abimelek vastas: 'Mina ei tea, kes seda tegi. Sina pole mulle sellest teatanud ja mina ise pole ka midagi kuulnud enne kui täna.'

27 Siis Aabraham võttis lambaid, kitsi ja veiseid ja andis Abimelekile; ja nad mõlemad sõlmisid lepingu.

28 Kui Aabraham pani seitse lambatalle eraldi,

29 küsis Abimelek Aabrahamilt: 'Milleks on siin need seitse talle, keda sa oled eraldi pannud?'

30 Ja tema vastas: 'Sa pead need seitse talle minu käest võtma tõendina minu poolt, et mina olen kaevanud selle kaevu!'

31 Seepärast hüütakse seda paika Beer-Sebaks, sest nad mõlemad andsid seal vande.

32 Nõnda sõlmisid nad Beer-Sebas lepingu. Siis Abimelek ja tema väepealik Piikol tõusid ja läksid tagasi vilistite maale.

33 Aabraham aga istutas Beer-Sebasse ühe tamariskipuu ja hüüdis seal appi Issanda, igavese Jumala nime.

34 Ja Aabraham elas võõrana vilistite maal kaua aega.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2669

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2669. 'Also, the son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation' means the spiritual Church which was to receive the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son of the servant-girl' and also of 'a nation'. 'The son of the servant-girl' or Ishmael, while he was in Abraham's house, that is, while he was with Abraham, represented the Lord's first rational, as shown in 2652, 2653, 2657, 2658. But now he has been separated he takes on another representation, namely that of the spiritual Church, 2666. A similar change of representation occurred previously with Lot who while with Abraham represented the Lord's external man, 1428, 1429, 1434, 1547, 1597, 1598, 1698, but once he had been separated from Abraham he represented the external Church and many states of that Church, 2324, 2371, 2399, 2422, 2459, and in the whole of Chapter 19. As regards 'nation' meaning good, see 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849. Here the good of faith is meant since it has reference to the spiritual Church. Hence the words used here, 'Also, the son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation', mean the spiritual Church which was to receive the good of faith, which is charity.

[2] The Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth is celestial and spiritual, and therefore angels are distinguished into those who are celestial and those who are spiritual, see 202, 337. To celestial angels the Lord appears as the Sun, to spiritual as the Moon, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531. Men in a similar way are distinguished into those who are celestial and those who are spiritual. Those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood were celestial, dealt with in 607, 608, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1125, while those who belonged to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood were spiritual, dealt with in 609, 640, 641, 765. For what the difference was between those two Churches, see 567, 607, and for what the difference is between what is celestial and what is spiritual, 81, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2069, 2088, 2227, 2507. The celestial are referred to by the Lord in the following,

He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He has led out His own sheep He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.

The spiritual however are referred to in these words,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:3-4, 16.

The good of love is that which constitutes the celestial Church, but the good of faith that which constitutes the spiritual Church. The truth of faith does not constitute the Church but leads into it.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2371

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2371. 'And they said, Did not this one come to sojourn' means people with different teaching and a different life. This is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction and living, and so as doctrine and life, dealt with in 1463, 2025. Here the nature of the state of the Church around the last times is described, when faith is no more because charity is no more, that is to say, when the good of charity is rejected on doctrinal grounds as well, because it has severed all connection with life.

[2] The people described here are not those who falsify the good of charity by explaining things to their own advantage. They are not those who, so that they may be very great and may possess all the world's goods, make the good of charity the earner of merit. Nor are they those who assume the right to dispense rewards, and in so doing defile the good of charity by various devices and misleading means. Instead the subject is those who do not wish to hear anything about the goods of charity, that is, about good works, only about faith separated from those works. And this they wish to hear from the argument that man has nothing but evil within him and that even the good which springs from himself is in itself evil, and so contains nothing of salvation; and from the argument that no one can merit heaven by means of any good, nor accordingly be saved by it, only by means of a faith whereby they acknowledge the Lord's merit. This is the teaching which flourishes in the last times when the Church starts to breathe its last, and which is enthusiastically taught and favourably accepted.

[3] But to maintain from all this that anyone can lead an evil life and at the same time possess a faith that is good is a false conclusion. It is also a false conclusion to say that because man has nothing but evil within him, good from the Lord - which has heaven within it because it has the Lord within it, and blessedness and happiness within it because heaven is within it - cannot exist there. Finally it is a false conclusion to say that because nobody can merit [heaven] by any good, heavenly good from the Lord in which [self-] merit is regarded as something monstrous has no existence. Such good exists with every angel, such good exists with every regenerate person, and such good exists with those who perceive delight, and indeed blessedness, in good itself, that is, in the affection for it. The Lord speaks of this good or charity in the following way in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. [But] I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? And if you salute only your brothers, what more are you doing [than others]? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? Matthew 5:43-48

Similar words occur in Luke, with this addition,

Do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. Luke 6:27-36.

[4] Here good which is derived from the Lord is described and the fact that it does not carry any thought of repayment. Consequently people who are governed by that good are called 'sons of the Father who is in heaven', and 'sons of the Most High'. Yet because that good has the Lord within it there is also a reward: in Luke,

When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they invite you back in return, and you are repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the blind, and you will be blessed, for they have nothing with which to repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. 1 Luke 14:12-14.

'Dinner', 'supper', or 'feast' means the good that flows from charity, in which the Lord dwells together with man, 2341. Here it is described therefore, and it is plainly evident, that recompense lies within good itself since this has the Lord within it, for it is said that 'you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just'.

[5] People who strive to do good from themselves because the Lord has commanded it to be done are the ones who at length receive this good and who after receiving instruction then acknowledge in faith that all good comes from the Lord, 1712, 1937, 1947. And they are now so opposed to self-merit that they are saddened by the mere thought of merit and perceive that blessedness and happiness with them is that much diminished.

[6] It is quite different in the case of those who fail to do good and instead lead an evil life, while teaching and professing that salvation resides in faith separated from charity. These people are not even aware of the possibility of such good. And what is remarkable the same people in the next life, as I have been given to know from much experience, wish to merit heaven on the basis of all the good deeds they recall their having done, for they are now aware for the first time that no salvation lies in faith separated from charity. But these are the ones whom the Lord refers to in Matthew,

They will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works? But then will I declare to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.

With these people it is also seen that they had paid no attention at all to any one of the things which the Lord Himself taught so many times about the good that flows from love and charity. Instead those things had been to them like clouds sailing by or like things seen in the night, such as the things recorded in:

Matthew 3:8-9; 5:7-48; 6:1-20; 7:16-20, 24-27; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 23; 18:21-end; 19:19; 22:35-40; 24:12-13; 25:34-end;

Mark 4:18-20; 11:13-14, 20; 12:28-35;

Luke 3:8-9
; 6:27-39, 43-end; 7:47; 8:8, 14-15; 10:25-28; 12:58-59; 13:6-10;

John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:14-15, 20-21, 23; 15:1-8, 9-19; 21:15-17.

These then, and other things like them, are what were meant by the words 'the men of Sodom' - that is, those immersed in evil, 2220, 2246, 2322 - 'saying to Lot, Did not this one come to sojourn, and will he surely judge?' that is, Will people with different teaching and a different life teach us?

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means the dead; but the Greek means the just, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

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