The Bible

 

1 Mose 13

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1 Also zog Abram herauf aus Ägypten mit seinem Weibe und mit allem, das er hatte, und Lot auch mit ihm, gegen den Mittag.

2 Abram aber war sehr reich von Vieh, Silber und Gold.

3 Und er zog immer fort von Mittag bis gen Bethel, an die Stätte da am ersten seine Hütte war, zwischen Bethel und Ai,

4 eben an den Ort, da er vorhin den Altar gemacht hatte. Und er predigte allda den Namen des HERRN.

5 Lot aber, der mit Abram zog, der hatte auch Schafe und Rinder und Hütten.

6 Und das Land mochte es nicht ertragen, daß sie beieinander wohneten; denn ihre Habe war groß, und konnten nicht beieinander wohnen.

7 Und war immer Zank zwischen den Hirten über Abrams Vieh und zwischen den Hirten über Lots Vieh. So wohneten auch zu der Zeit die Kanaaniter und Pheresiter im Lande.

8 Da sprach Abram zu Lot: Lieber, laß nicht Zank sein zwischen mir und dir und zwischen meinen und deinen Hirten; denn wir sind Gebrüder.

9 Stehet dir nicht alles Land offen? Lieber, scheide dich von mir! Willst du zur Linken, so will ich zur Rechten; oder willst du zur Rechten, so will ich zur Linken.

10 Da hub Lot seine Augen auf und besah die ganze Gegend am Jordan. Denn ehe der HERR Sodoma und Gomorrha verderbete, war sie wasserreich, bis man gen Zoar kommt, als ein Garten des HERRN, gleichwie Ägyptenland.

11 Da erwählete ihm Lot die ganze Gegend am Jordan und zog gegen Morgen. Also schied sich ein Bruder von dem andern,

12 daß Abram wohnete im Lande Kanaan und Lot in den Städten der selben Gegend; und setzte seine Hütten gen Sodom.

13 Aber die Leute zu Sodom waren böse und sündigten sehr wider den HERRN.

14 Da nun Lot sich von Abram geschieden hatte, sprach der HERR zu Abram: Hebe deine Augen auf und siehe von der Stätte an, da du wohnest, gegen Mitternacht, gegen den Mittag, gegen den Morgen und gegen den Abend.

15 Denn alle das Land, das du siehest, will ich dir geben und deinem Samen ewiglich.

16 Und will deinen Samen machen wie den Staub auf Erden. Kann ein Mensch den Staub auf Erden zählen, der wird auch deinen Samen zählen

17 Darum so mach dich auf und zeuch durch das Land in die Länge und Breite; denn dir will ich's geben.

18 Also erhub Abram seine Hütten, kam und wohnete im Hain Mamre; der zu Hebron ist, und bauete daselbst dem HERRN einen Altar.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1585

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1585. 'And he saw all the plain of Jordan' means the goods and truths that resided with the external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'a plain' and of 'the Jordan'. In the internal sense 'the plain surrounding the Jordan' means the external man as regards all his goods and truths. The reason the plain of Jordan has this meaning is that the Jordan was a boundary of the land of Canaan. 'The land of Canaan', as stated and shown already, means the Lord's kingdom and Church, and in particular its celestial and spiritual things; this also explains why it was called the Holy Land, and the heavenly Canaan. And because it means the Lord's kingdom and Church, it means in the highest sense the Lord Himself, who is the All in all of His kingdom and of His Church.

[2] For this reason all things in the land of Canaan were representative. Those in the midst of the land, or that were inmost, represented His internal Man - Mount Zion and Jerusalem, for example, representing respectively celestial things and spiritual things. More outlying districts represented things more remote from internals. And the most outlying districts, or those which formed the boundaries, represented the external man. There were several boundaries to the land of Canaan, but in general they were the two rivers Euphrates and Jordan, and also the Sea, 1 for which reason the Euphrates and the Jordan represented external things. Here therefore 'the plain of Jordan' means, as it also represents, all things residing in the external man. The meaning of the land of Canaan is similar when used in reference to the Lord's kingdom in heaven, to the Lord's Church on earth, to the member of that kingdom or Church, or abstractly to the celestial things of love, and so on.

[3] Almost all the cities therefore, and indeed all the mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, and other features in the land of Canaan, were representative. The river Euphrates, being a boundary, represented, as shown already in 120, sensory evidence and facts that belong to the external man, and so too did the Jordan and the plain of Jordan, as becomes clear from the following places: In David,

O my God, my soul bows itself down within me; 2 therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan, and the Hermons from the little mountain. Psalms 42:6.

Here 'the land of Jordan' stands for that which is lowly and so is distant from the celestial, as a person's externals are from his internals.

[4] The crossing of the Jordan when the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan and the dividing of its waters at that time also represented the approach to the internal man by way of the external, as well as a person's entry into the Lord's kingdom, and much more besides, Joshua 3:14 on to the end of Chapter 4. And because the external man is constantly hostile towards the internal and strives for domination over it, the arrogance or the pride of the Jordan came to be phrases used by the Prophets, as in Jeremiah,

How will you compete with horses? And confident in a land of peace how do you deal with the pride of the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5.

'The pride of the Jordan' stands for those things belonging to the external man which rear up and wish to have dominion over the internal, such as reasonings, meant here by 'horses', and 'the confidence' they give.

[5] In the same prophet,

Edom will become a desolation. Behold, like a lion it will come up from the arrogance of the Jordan against the habitation of Ethan. Jeremiah 49:17, 19.

'The arrogance of the Jordan' stands for the pride of the external man against the goods and truths of the internal. In Zechariah,

Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the magnificent ones have been laid waste! Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down. The sound of the howling of shepherds [is heard], for their magnificence has been laid waste; the sound of the roaring of young lions, that the pride of the Jordan has been laid waste. Zechariah 11:2-3.

The fact that the Jordan was a boundary of the land of Canaan is clear from Numbers 34:12, and the eastern boundary of the land of Judah, in Joshua 15:5.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. the Great or Mediterranean Sea

2. literally, upon me

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