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1 Mózes 14

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1 Lõn pedig Amrafelnek, Sineár királyának és Ariókhnak, Elászár királyának, Khédorlaomernek, Élám királyának, és Thidálnak, a Góim királyának napjaiban:

2 Hadat indítának [ezek] Bera, Sodoma királya ellen, Birsa, Gomora királya ellen, Sináb, Admáh királya ellen, Seméber, Czeboim királya ellen és Bélah, azaz Czoár királya ellen.

3 Mind ezek a Sziddim völgyében egyesûlének; ez a Sóstenger.

4 Tizenkét esztendeig szolgálták vala Khédorlaomert, és a tizenharmadik esztendõben ellene támadtak vala.

5 A tizennegyedik esztendõben pedig eljöve Khédorlaomer, és a királyok, a kik õ vele [valának], és megverék a Refeusokat Asztheroth Kárnajimban, és a Zuzeusokat Hámban, és az Emeusokat Sávé- Kirjáthajimban.

6 És a Horeusokat az õ hegyökön, a Seiren, egész Él- Páránig, mely a puszta mellett van.

7 És megtérének s menének Hén Mispátba, azaz Kádesbe, és elpusztíták az Amálekiták egész mezõségét, és az Emoreusokat is, kik laknak vala Háczaczon-Thámárban.

8 Kiméne tehát Sodoma királya, Gomora királya, Admáh királya, Czeboim királya, és Bélah, azaz Czoár királya, és megütközének azokkal a Sziddim völgyében:

9 Khédorlaomerrel, Élám királyával, és Thidállal, Gójim királyával, Amráfellel, Sineár királyával, és Ariókhkal, Elászár királyával: négy király öt ellen.

10 A Siddim völgye pedig tele vala szurok-forrásokkal. És megfutamodának Sodoma és Gomora királyai, és azokba esének: a megmaradottak pedig a hegységbe futának.

11 És elvivék Sodomának és Gomorának minden jószágát és minden eleségét; és elmenének.

12 Elvivék Lótot is az Ábrám atyjafiának fiát jószágostól együtt, és elmenének; mert Lót Sodomában lakik vala.

13 Eljöve pedig egy menekûlt és hírûl hozá a héber Ábrámnak, a ki lakik vala az Emoreus Mamrénak, Eskol atyjafiának és Áner atyjafiának tölgyesében, a kik meg Ábrámnak szövetségesei valának.

14 A mint meghallá Ábrám, hogy az õ atyjafia fogságba esett, felfegyverzé házában nevekedett háromszáz tizennyolcz próbált legényét és üldözve nyomula Dánig.

15 És csapatokra oszolván ellenök éjszaka õ és szolgái, megveré õket, és ûzé õket mind Hóbáig, a mely Damaskustól balra esik.

16 És visszahozá mind a jószágot; Lótot is, az õ atyjafiát jószágával egybe visszahozá, meg az asszonyokat és a népet.

17 Minekutánna pedig visszatért Khédorlaomernek és a vele volt királyoknak megverésébõl, kiméne õ elébe Sodomának királya a Sáve völgyébe, azaz a király völgyébe.

18 Melkhisédek pedig Sálem királya, kenyeret és bort hoza; õ pedig a Magasságos Istennek papja vala.

19 És megáldá õt, és monda: Áldott legyen Ábrám a Magasságos Istentõl, ég és föld teremtõjétõl.

20 Áldott a Magasságos Isten, a ki kezedbe adta ellenségeidet. És tizedet ada néki mindenbõl.

21 És monda Sodoma királya Ábrámnak: Add nékem a népet, a jószágot pedig vedd magadnak.

22 És monda Ábrám Sodoma királyának: Felemeltem az én kezemet az Úrhoz, a Magasságos Istenhez, ég és föld teremtõjéhez:

23 Hogy én egy fonalszálat, vagy egy sarukötõt sem veszek el mindabból, a mi a tiéd, hogy ne mondjad: Én gazdagítottam meg Ábrámot.

24 Semmi egyebet, csupán a legények élelmét, és ama férfiak részét, kik én velem eljöttek volt: Áner, Eskhol, Mamré, õk vegyék ki az õ részöket.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

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.

The Bible

 

Genesis 13

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1 Abram went up out of Egypt: he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South.

2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

3 He went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

4 to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of Yahweh.

5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

6 The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: for their substance was great, so that they could not live together.

7 There was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite lived in the land at that time.

8 Abram said to Lot, "Please, let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are relatives.

9 Isn't the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left."

10 Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.

11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves the one from the other.

12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

13 Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.

14 Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, "Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,

15 for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever.

16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered.

17 Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its breadth; for I will give it to you."

18 Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.