The Bible

 

Bereshit 16

Study

   

1 ושרי אשת אברם לא ילדה לו ולה שפחה מצרית ושמה הגר׃

2 ותאמר שרי אל אברם הנה נא עצרני יהוה מלדת בא נא אל שפחתי אולי אבנה ממנה וישמע אברם לקול שרי׃

3 ותקח שרי אשת אברם את הגר המצרית שפחתה מקץ עשר שנים לשבת אברם בארץ כנען ותתן אתה לאברם אישה לו לאשה׃

4 ויבא אל הגר ותהר ותרא כי הרתה ותקל גברתה בעיניה׃

5 ותאמר שרי אל אברם חמסי עליך אנכי נתתי שפחתי בחיקך ותרא כי הרתה ואקל בעיניה ישפט יהוה ביני וביניך׃

6 ויאמר אברם אל שרי הנה שפחתך בידך עשי לה הטוב בעיניך ותענה שרי ותברח מפניה׃

7 וימצאה מלאך יהוה על עין המים במדבר על העין בדרך שור׃

8 ויאמר הגר שפחת שרי אי מזה באת ואנה תלכי ותאמר מפני שרי גברתי אנכי ברחת׃

9 ויאמר לה מלאך יהוה שובי אל גברתך והתעני תחת ידיה׃

10 ויאמר לה מלאך יהוה הרבה ארבה את זרעך ולא יספר מרב׃

11 ויאמר לה מלאך יהוה הנך הרה וילדת בן וקראת שמו ישמעאל כי שמע יהוה אל עניך׃

12 והוא יהיה פרא אדם ידו בכל ויד כל בו ועל פני כל אחיו ישכן׃

13 ותקרא שם יהוה הדבר אליה אתה אל ראי כי אמרה הגם הלם ראיתי אחרי ראי׃

14 על כן קרא לבאר באר לחי ראי הנה בין קדש ובין ברד׃

15 ותלד הגר לאברם בן ויקרא אברם שם בנו אשר ילדה הגר ישמעאל׃

16 ואברם בן שמנים שנה ושש שנים בלדת הגר את ישמעאל לאברם׃

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1921

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1921. Do to her that which is good in thine eyes. That this signifies absolute control, is evident without explication. In the internal sense these words represent and signify that the Lord, from His own power, conquered, subjugated, and expelled the evil which from His hereditary nature had insinuated itself also into this first rational, for as has been said the rational was conceived of the internal man, which was Jehovah, as a father, and was born of the exterior man as a mother. Whatever was born from the exterior man had the hereditary nature with it, and therefore it had evil with it. It was this that the Lord conquered, subjugated, and expelled, and at last made Divine [His rational] by His own power. That it was by His own power is evident from everything contained in this verse, as from its being said, “Thy handmaid is in thy hand,” by which is signified that that rational was in His sovereign power; and now, “Do to her that which is good in thine eyes,” by which is signified absolute control over it; and then, “Sarai humbled her,” by which is signified subjugation.

[2] The words now under consideration were said to Sarai, by whom is represented the intellectual truth that belonged to the Lord Himself, and from which He thought (as before said, n. 1904, 1914), and from which He had absolute control over the rational and also over the natural that was of the exterior man. He who thinks from intellectual truth, and perceives from Divine good-which good also was His, because the Father’s, for the Father was His soul and He had no other-cannot do otherwise than act from His own power. And therefore, because by His own power He subdued and cast out the evil of His hereditary nature, He also by His own power united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, for the one is a consequence of the other.

[3] He who is conceived of Jehovah has no other internal, that is no other soul, than Jehovah; and therefore as to His veriest life the Lord was Jehovah Himself. Jehovah, or the Divine Essence, cannot be divided, as can the soul of a human father, from which offspring is conceived. So far as this offspring recedes from the likeness of the father, so far it recedes from the father, and this it does more and more as age advances. It is from this that a father’s love for his children diminishes with their advance in age. It was not so with the Lord; as age advanced He did not recede as to the Human Essence, but continually drew nearer, even to perfect union. Hence it is evident that He is the same as Jehovah the Father, as He also clearly teaches (John 14:6, 8-11).

  
/ 10837  
  

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