The Bible

 

1 Mose 12:16

Study

       

16 Und er tat Abram Gutes um ihretwillen. Und er hatte Schafe, Rinder, Esel, Knechte und Mägde, Eselinnen und Kamele.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1484

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1484. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. That this signifies that they captivated the lower mind, is evident from the signification of “woman,” and from the signification of “house.” A “woman” signifies truth, here the truth that was in the memory-knowledges with the delights of which the Lord was captivated in childhood. The delights of truth are those which come from the intellectual truth which is signified by a “sister.” A “house” signifies the things that are in man, especially those which are of his will, as before shown (n. 710); here therefore those which are of the lower mind, or of the affection of knowing and learning.

1484a. verse 16. And he did well unto Abram for her sake; and he had flock and herd, and he-asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels. “He did well unto Abram for her sake,” signifies that memory-knowledges were multiplied with the Lord; “and he had flock and herd, and he-asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels,” signifies all the things in general that belong to memory-knowledges.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #710

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

710. Enter thou end all thy house into the ark. That this signifies the things that are of the will, is therefore evident. In the preceding chapter, where the things of the understanding are meant, it is expressed differently, namely: “Thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee” (verse 18). That a “house” signifies the will and what is of the will, is evident in various places in the Word; as in Jeremiah:

Their houses shall be turned over unto others, their fields and their wives together (Jeremiah 6:12).

Here “houses” and also “fields” and “wives” relate to things which are of the will. Again:

Build ye houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them (Jeremiah 29:5, 28).

Here “building houses and dwelling in them” relates to the will; “planting gardens” to the understanding: and it is the same in other passages. And the “house of Jehovah” is frequently mentioned as signifying the church wherein love is the principal; the “house of Judah” as signifying the celestial church; and the “house of Israel” as signifying the spiritual church. As “house” signifies the church, the mind of the man of the church (wherein are the things of the will and of the understanding, or of charity and faith), is also signified by “house.”

  
/ 10837  
  

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