The Bible

 

Genesis 15

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1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1824

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1824. That 'a heifer' means those things that are the representatives of exterior celestial things, 'a she-goat' those that are the representatives of interior celestial, and 'a ram' those that are the representatives of spiritual-celestial, becomes clear from the sacrifices, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on when sacrifices are the subject. There are exterior celestial things and interior celestial things, as well as spiritual-celestial. Exterior celestial things are such as belong to the external man, interior celestial such as belong to the internal man, while spiritual-celestial are such as derive from both exterior and interior celestial things. The celestial itself consists in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. That celestial flows in from the Lord, and indeed by way of the internal man into the external. In the interior man it is called the interior celestial, in the exterior the exterior celestial. The exterior celestial consists of every affection for good, and also indeed every pleasure which springs from the affection for good. Insofar as these two, that is, the affection for good and the pleasure springing from it, have the good of love and charity within them, they have what is celestial within them, and happiness too: The spiritual-celestial however consists of every affection for truth which has within it the affection for good, that is, the affection for truth which is begotten by the affection for good; thus it is faith that has charity within it, or faith which is begotten by charity.

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