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1 Mose 23

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1 Sara ward hundertsiebenundzwanzig Jahre alt

2 und starb in Kirjat-Arba, das Hebron heißt, im Lande Kanaan. Da kam Abraham, daß er sie beklagte und beweinte.

3 Darnach stand er auf von seiner Leiche und redete mit den Kindern Heth und sprach:

4 Ich bin ein Fremder und Einwohner bei euch; gebt mir ein Erbbegräbnis bei euch, daß ich meinen Toten begrabe, der vor mir liegt.

5 Da antworteten Abraham die Kinder Heth und sprachen zu ihm:

6 Höre uns, lieber Herr! Du bist ein Fürst Gottes unter uns, begrabe deinen Toten in unsern vornehmsten Gräbern; kein Mensch soll dir unter uns wehren, daß du in seinem Grabe begrabest deinen Toten.

7 Da stand Abraham auf und bückte sich vor dem Volk des Landes, vor den Kindern Heth.

8 Und er redete mit ihnen und sprach: Gefällt es euch, daß ich meinen Toten, der vor mir liegt, begrabe, so hört mich und bittet für mich Ephron, den Sohn Zohars,

9 daß er mir gebe seine zwiefache Höhle, die er hat am Ende seines Ackers; er gebe sie mir um Geld, soviel sie wert ist, unter euch zum Erbbegräbnis.

10 Ephron aber saß unter den Kindern Heth. Da antwortete Ephron, der Hethiter, Abraham, daß zuhörten die Kinder Heth, vor allen, die zu seiner Stadt Tor aus und ein gingen, und sprach:

11 Nein, mein Herr, sondern höre mir zu! Ich schenke dir den Acker und die Höhle darin dazu und übergebe dir's vor den Augen der Kinder meines Volkes, zu begraben deinen Toten.

12 Da bückte sich Abraham vor dem Volk des Landes

13 und redete mit Ephron, daß zuhörte das Volk des Landes, und sprach: Willst du mir ihn lassen, so bitte ich, nimm von mir das Geld für den Acker, das ich dir gebe, so will ich meinen Toten daselbst begraben.

14 Ephron antwortete Abraham und sprach zu ihm:

15 Mein Herr, höre doch mich! Das Feld ist vierhun dert Lot Silber wert; was ist das aber zwischen mir und dir? Begrabe nur deinen Toten!

16 Abraham gehorchte Ephron und wog ihm das Geld dar, das er gesagt hatte, daß zuhörten die Kinder Heth, vierhundert Lot Silber, das im Kauf gang und gäbe war.

17 Also ward Ephrons Acker, darin die zwiefache Höhle ist, Mamre gegenüber, Abraham zum eigenen Gut bestätigt mit der Höhle darin und mit allen Bäumen auf dem Acker umher,

18 daß die Kinder Heth zusahen und alle, die zu seiner Stadt Tor aus und ein gingen.

19 Darnach begrub Abraham Sara, sein Weib, in der Höhle des Ackers, die zwiefach ist, Mamre gegenüber, das ist Hebron, im Lande Kanaan.

20 Also ward bestätigt der Acker und die Höhle darin Abraham zum Erbbegräbnis von den Kindern Heth.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #2973

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2973. That was in all the border thereof round about. That this signifies exterior knowledges, is evident from the signification of “borders” and of “round about,” as being things which are exterior (of which above, n. 2936); so that here the “tree that was in the border round about” signifies exterior knowledges. Exterior knowledges are those of the ritual and doctrinal things that are the externals of the church; but interior knowledges are those of the doctrinal things that are the internals of the church. What the externals of the church are, and what the internal, has already been repeatedly stated.

[2] Moreover in various places in the Word mention is made of the “midst” and of that which is “round about;” as when speaking of the land of Canaan, that was called the “midst” where were Zion and Jerusalem, but the country “round about” was where the surrounding nations were. By the “land of Canaan” was represented the kingdom of the Lord; its celestial by “Zion,” and its spiritual by “Jerusalem,” where was the dwelling place of Jehovah or the Lord. The country “round about,” even to the borders, represented the celestial and spiritual things flowing forth in their order and derived therefrom; and in the furthest boundaries the representatives of celestial and spiritual things ceased. These representatives had their origin from those in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens; there the Lord as a Sun is in the midst; from this is all celestial flame and spiritual light; they who are nearest are in the highest light, but they who are more remote are in less light, and they who are most remote are in the least; and there are the boundaries, and hell begins, which is outside of heaven.

[3] With celestial flame and spiritual light the case is this: The celestial things of innocence and love, and the spiritual things of charity and faith, are in the like ratio as are the heat and light the angels have; for all the heat and light in the heavens are therefrom. It is from this therefore that the “midst” signifies the inmost, and the circumference signifies the outermost, and the things which proceed in order from the inmost to the outermost are in such degrees of innocence, love, and charity as is their distance from the center. And so it is in every heavenly society; they who are in the midst are the best of that kind, and the love and charity of that kind decreases with them according to their remoteness from the center; that is, it decreases with those who are at a distance from the center, in proportion to the distance.

[4] The case is the like with man; his inmost is where the Lord dwells with him, and from this inmost governs the things which are round about. When man suffers the Lord to dispose the things round about to correspondence with the inmost ones, then man is in such a state that he can be received into heaven; and then the inmost, the interior, and the external things act as one; but when man does not suffer the Lord to dispose the things round about to correspondence, then he recedes from heaven in the measure in which he does not suffer it. That the soul of man is in the midst, or in his inmost, and that the body is round about or in the outmosts, is well known; for it is the body that encompasses and invests his soul or his spirit.

[5] With those who are in celestial and spiritual love, good from the Lord flows in through the soul into the body, and thence the body becomes full of light; but with those who are in bodily and worldly love, good from the Lord cannot flow in through the soul into the body, but their interiors are in darkness; whence also the body becomes full of darkness, according to what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light; but if the eye be evil, the whole body is full of darkness. If therefore the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matthew 6:22-23);

by the “eye” is signified the intellectual which belongs to the soul (n. 2701).

[6] But the case is worse still with those whose interiors are darkness, and whose exteriors appear as full of light. These are such as outwardly counterfeit angels of light, but are devils inwardly, and they are called “Babel;” and when with such persons the things that are “round about” are destroyed, they are carried headlong into hell. These things were represented by the city Jericho, in that its walls fell and the city was given to the curse when the priests had gone about it seven times, and had sounded the trumpets (Joshua 6:1-17). They are meant also in Jeremiah:

Set yourselves in array against Babel round about, all ye that bend the bow; sound the trumpet against her round about; she hath given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down (Jeremiah 50:14-15).

It is now plain what “round about” means. Moreover in the Word mention is sometimes made of that which is “round about” (as Jeremiah 21:14; 46:14, 49:5; Ezekiel 36:3-4, 36:7; 37:21; Amos 3:11; and elsewhere), and by the things “round about” are signified those which are exterior; concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy more elsewhere.

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