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synty 21

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1 Ja Herra piti Saarasta huolen, niinkuin oli luvannut; ja Herra teki Saaralle, niinkuin oli puhunut.

2 Ja Saara tuli raskaaksi ja synnytti Aabrahamille pojan hänen vanhoilla päivillään, juuri sinä aikana, jonka Jumala oli hänelle sanonut.

3 Ja Aabraham nimitti poikansa, joka hänelle oli syntynyt, sen, jonka Saara oli hänelle synnyttänyt, Iisakiksi.

4 Ja Aabraham ympärileikkasi poikansa Iisakin, tämän ollessa kahdeksan päivän vanha, niinkuin Jumala oli hänen käskenyt tehdä.

5 Aabraham oli sadan vuoden vanha, kun hänen poikansa Iisak syntyi hänelle.

6 Ja Saara sanoi: "Jumala on saattanut minut naurunalaiseksi; kuka ikinä saa tämän kuulla, se nauraa minulle".

7 Ja hän sanoi vielä: "Kuka olisi tiennyt sanoa Aabrahamille: Saara on imettävä lapsia? Ja nyt minä kuitenkin olen synnyttänyt hänelle pojan hänen vanhoilla päivillään."

8 Ja poika kasvoi, ja hänet vieroitettiin. Ja Aabraham laittoi suuret pidot siksi päiväksi, jona Iisak vieroitettiin.

9 Ja Saara näki egyptiläisen Haagarin pojan, jonka tämä oli Aabrahamille synnyttänyt, ilvehtivän

10 ja sanoi Aabrahamille: "Aja pois tuo orjatar poikinensa, sillä ei tuon orjattaren poika saa periä minun poikani, Iisakin, kanssa".

11 Aabraham pahastui suuresti tästä puheesta poikansa tähden.

12 Mutta Jumala sanoi Aabrahamille: "Älä pahastu siitä poikasi ja orjattaresi tähden. Kuule Saaraa kaikessa, mitä hän sinulle sanoo, sillä ainoastaan Iisakista sinä saat nimellesi jälkeläiset.

13 Mutta myöskin orjattaren pojasta minä teen suuren kansan, koska hän on sinun jälkeläisesi."

14 Varhain seuraavana aamuna Aabraham otti leipää ja vesileilin ja antoi ne Haagarille, pannen ne hänen olalleen, sekä pojan, ja lähetti hänet menemään. Hän lähti ja harhaili Beerseban erämaassa.

15 Mutta kun vesi loppui leilistä, heitti hän pojan pensaan alle,

16 meni ja istui syrjään jousenkantaman päähän, sillä hän ajatteli: "En voi nähdä pojan kuolevan". Ja istuessaan siinä syrjässä hän korotti äänensä ja itki.

17 Silloin Jumala kuuli pojan valituksen, ja Jumalan enkeli huusi taivaasta Haagarille sanoen: "Mikä sinun on, Haagar? Älä pelkää, sillä Jumala on kuullut pojan valituksen, siinä missä hän makaa.

18 Nouse, nosta poika maasta ja tartu hänen käteensä, sillä minä teen hänestä suuren kansan."

19 Ja Jumala avasi hänen silmänsä, niin että hän huomasi vesikaivon. Ja hän meni ja täytti leilin vedellä ja antoi pojan juoda.

20 Ja Jumala oli pojan kanssa, ja hän kasvoi ja asui erämaassa, ja hänestä tuli jousimies.

21 Ja hän asui Paaranin erämaassa; ja hänen äitinsä otti hänelle vaimon Egyptin maasta.

22 Siihen aikaan puhui Abimelek ja hänen sotapäällikkönsä Piikol Aabrahamille sanoen: "Jumala on sinun kanssasi kaikessa, mitä teet.

23 Vanno nyt tässä minulle Jumalan kautta, ettet ole oleva petollinen minulle etkä minun suvulleni etkä jälkeläisilleni, vaan tee sinäkin laupeus minulle ja sille maalle, jossa muukalaisena asut, niinkuin minä olen sinulle tehnyt."

24 Aabraham sanoi: "Minä vannon".

25 Aabraham nuhteli kuitenkin Abimelekia vesikaivon tähden, jonka Abimelekin palvelijat olivat vallanneet.

26 Mutta Abimelek vastasi: "En tiedä, kuka sen on tehnyt; et ole itse minulle mitään ilmoittanut, enkä ole siitä kuullut ennen kuin tänään".

27 Silloin Aabraham otti pikkukarjaa ja raavaskarjaa ja antoi Abimelekille; ja he tekivät molemmat keskenänsä liiton.

28 Ja Aabraham asetti laumasta seitsemän uuhikaritsaa erilleen muista.

29 Silloin Abimelek sanoi Aabrahamille: "Mitä tarkoittavat nuo seitsemän karitsaa, jotka olet asettanut tuonne erilleen?"

30 Hän vastasi: "Nämä seitsemän karitsaa on sinun otettava minun kädestäni, todistukseksi minulle siitä, että tämä kaivo on minun kaivamani".

31 Siitä kutsuttiin paikkaa Beersebaksi, koska he molemmat vannoivat siinä toisilleen valan.

32 Niin he tekivät liiton Beersebassa. Ja Abimelek nousi ja Piikol, hänen sotapäällikkönsä, ja he palasivat filistealaisten maahan.

33 Ja Aabraham istutti tamariskipuun Beersebaan ja huusi siinä avuksi Herran, iankaikkisen Jumalan, nimeä.

34 Ja Aabraham asui kauan muukalaisena filistealaisten maassa.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2625

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2625. 'At the appointed time' means when the Rational was such that it was receptive. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'time'. There are two things which appear to be indispensable while a person lives in the world because they exist as essential elements of the natural order - those two things being space and time. Living in the world or natural order therefore is living in space and time. But these two cease to have any existence in the next life. They do, it is true, appear to exist to some extent in the world of spirits, the reason for this being that spirits recently arrived from life in the body bring with them mental pictures of natural things. But subsequently they perceive that space and time do not exist in that life but states instead, and that states in the next life correspond to extensions of space and of time within the natural order - states in respect to Being corresponding to those of space, and in respect to Manifestation to those of time. Regarding space or place, see 1274, 1379, 1380, 1382.

[2] From this anyone may see what kind of mental pictures a person is able to have while in the world or natural order regarding things which belong to the next life and about many arcana of faith. He may see that such a person is unwilling to believe those things unless he can take them in by means of objects that exist in the world, indeed by sensory evidence. For he cannot do other than suppose that if he were to divest himself of his mental pictures that have been formed from space and time, more so to divest himself of space and time themselves, he would cease to be anything at all and so would have nothing left to him from which he could perceive with his senses or have thoughts of anything apart from that which was unintelligible to him. But in actual fact quite the reverse is the case: the life of angels is such that it is the wisest and happiest of all.

[3] This is the reason why people's ages mentioned in the Word do not in the internal sense mean ages but states, so that in this verse 'old age' does not mean old age. Nor does any number mean a number but some specific state, as in the case of 'a hundred years' mentioned further on. From this it now becomes clear that 'the appointed time' means the state when the rational was such that it was receptive.

[4] As regards the specific teaching presented here - that the Divine Rational received being and was given manifestation from the Lord's Divine spiritual united to His Divine celestial, when the days had been completed for him to cast off the human and when the Rational was such that it was receptive (meant in the internal sense by 'Sarah conceived and bore to Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time') - the following needs to be known:

The human has its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, see 2106, 2194. The Lord advanced gradually towards the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, and of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, 1864, 2033, 2523.

He did so by His own power, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, through continuing temptations and repeated victories, 1690, 1737, 1813, and through receiving revelations repeatedly from His own Divine, 1616, 2500, till at length He cast out the whole human from the mother, 1414, 1444, 2574.

And in this way He made His Human - as to the Rational - Divine, as taught by the things that occur in this verse.

From all this it is evident how the explanation 'when the days had been completed for Him to cast off the human and when the Rational was such that it was receptive' is to be understood.

[5] Some idea of this matter may be had from what happens to people who are being regenerated. The celestial things of love, and the spiritual things of faith, are instilled into them by the Lord not all at once but gradually; and when by means of those things a person's rational has become such that it is able to be receptive, he is for the first time becoming regenerate, mostly by means of temptations in which he overcomes. While these experiences are taking place the days are being completed to cast off the old man and put on the new. Regarding man's regeneration, see 677, 679, 711, 848, 986, 1555, 2475.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2500

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2500. 'Abraham travelled from there towards the land of the south' means the Lord's advances in goods and truths of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'travelling' as advancing, dealt with in 1457, and from the meaning of 'the land of the south' as the good and truth of faith, dealt with in 1458. Previously in Chapter 12 it was said of Abraham when entering Egypt that 'he travelled, going on and travelling towards the south', verses 9-10, which meant in the internal sense that the Lord, when a boy, made advances into goods and truths as regards knowledge consisting of cognitions, 1456, 1459. Now in the present chapter it is said that he travelled towards the land of the south, which means further and more interior advances, made this time into goods and truths as regards the doctrine of faith. This is why the expression 'the land of the south' is used here, for 'land' in its proper sense means the Church, for whose sake doctrine exists, 566, 662, 1066, 2117, 2118.

[2] As regards the Lord's instruction in general, the nature of it is quite plain from the internal sense of this chapter. From that sense it is plain that He was taught through a whole succession of revelations and so through Divine perceptions and thoughts from Himself, that is, from His Divine. These perceptions and thoughts He implanted in Divine intelligence and wisdom, and continued to do so until the perfect union of His Human and His Divine had been effected. This way of becoming wise is not at all open to anyone else, for it sprang from the Divine itself, which was His inmost, being the Father's, from whom He had been conceived. Thus it sprang from the Divine Love itself which the Lord alone possessed and which constituted His desire to save the entire human race.

[3] It is an arcanum as yet known by scarcely anyone that love itself holds wisdom and intelligence within it, but that the nature of these is determined by that of the love. The reason wisdom and intelligence exist within love is that all influx takes place into the love, or what amounts to the same, into the good, and so into the life itself of man. This is the source of the wisdom and intelligence possessed by angels, which are beyond description. It is the source also of the wisdom and intelligence possessed by men who are governed by love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. Although during their lifetime the latter do not discern at all the presence with them of such wisdom and intelligence, they nevertheless enter into these after death for the reason that they exist within love itself and within charity itself, see 2494. As for the Lord's love however, this was infinitely higher than the love which exists in angels, for it was Divine Love itself, and therefore He had within Himself the acme of all wisdom and intelligence. Yet into the possession of this, because He was born a human being (homo) and advanced as a human being does according to Divine order, He entered by successive degrees so that He might in that way unite His Human to the Divine and make it Divine, doing so by His own power.

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