Arcana Coelestia #3388
3388. 'For she was good-looking' means that it could be received without difficulty because of its being called Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'good-looking' as something which because of its form is pleasing and so is received without difficulty. The subject is those who possess matters of doctrine concerning faith but who do not have from good any perception of truth, only a conscience regarding what is true which consists simply of what their parents and teachers have told them. These are they who are called 'the men of the place (which is Gerar)', 3385, 3387. With these people the first stage in the confirmation of such truth is reached, in that it is called Divine, for now they immediately have a concept of that which is holy, and this contributes an overall confirmation to every single thing they are told even though they do not grasp it. Nevertheless what they are told must come within their ability to grasp those things. It is not enough for a person to know that something exists; he also wishes to know something about it, and the nature of it if any confirmation of it is to reach the understanding part of his mind, and come back from there. If that wish is not present something may indeed be introduced into the memory, but it remains there as no more than something dead, like a meaningless sound, and unless some confirmatory evidence from whatever source drives it home it slips away like the remembrance of something that merely made a sound.
Genesis 26:1-24
1
And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
2
And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
3
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
4
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
5
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
7
And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.
8
And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
9
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
10
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
11
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
12
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
13
And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
14
For he had possession of flocks, and possessions of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
15
For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
16
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
17
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18
And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19
And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
21
And they digged another well, and strove for that also:and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22
And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23
And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.
24
And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
