The Bible

 

Genesis 20

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1 καὶ ἐκίνησεν ἐκεῖθεν αβρααμ εἰς γῆν πρὸς λίβα καὶ ὤ|κησεν ἀνὰ μέσον καδης καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον σουρ καὶ παρῴκησεν ἐν γεραροις

2 εἶπεν δὲ αβρααμ περὶ σαρρας τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἀδελφή μού ἐστιν ἐφοβήθη γὰρ εἰπεῖν ὅτι γυνή μού ἐστιν μήποτε ἀποκτείνωσιν αὐτὸν οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως δι' αὐτήν ἀπέστειλεν δὲ αβιμελεχ βασιλεὺς γεραρων καὶ ἔλαβεν τὴν σαρραν

3 καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς αβιμελεχ ἐν ὕπνῳ τὴν νύκτα καὶ εἶπεν ἰδοὺ σὺ ἀποθνῄσκεις περὶ τῆς γυναικός ἧς ἔλαβες αὕτη δέ ἐστιν συνῳκηκυῖα ἀνδρί

4 αβιμελεχ δὲ οὐχ ἥψατο αὐτῆς καὶ εἶπεν κύριε ἔθνος ἀγνοοῦν καὶ δίκαιον ἀπολεῖς

5 οὐκ αὐτός μοι εἶπεν ἀδελφή μού ἐστιν καὶ αὐτή μοι εἶπεν ἀδελφός μού ἐστιν ἐν καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ χειρῶν ἐποίησα τοῦτο

6 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς καθ' ὕπνον κἀγὼ ἔγνων ὅτι ἐν καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ ἐποίησας τοῦτο καὶ ἐφεισάμην ἐγώ σου τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτεῖν σε εἰς ἐμέ ἕνεκεν τούτου οὐκ ἀφῆκά σε ἅψασθαι αὐτῆς

7 νῦν δὲ ἀπόδος τὴν γυναῖκα τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ὅτι προφήτης ἐστὶν καὶ προσεύξεται περὶ σοῦ καὶ ζήσῃ εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀποδίδως γνῶθι ὅτι ἀποθανῇ σὺ καὶ πάντα τὰ σά

8 καὶ ὤρθρισεν αβιμελεχ τὸ πρωὶ καὶ ἐκάλεσεν πάντας τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλάλησεν πάντα τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα εἰς τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν ἐφοβήθησαν δὲ πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι σφόδρα

9 καὶ ἐκάλεσεν αβιμελεχ τὸν αβρααμ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας ἡμῖν μή τι ἡμάρτομεν εἰς σέ ὅτι ἐπήγαγες ἐπ' ἐμὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν μου ἁμαρτίαν μεγάλην ἔργον ὃ οὐδεὶς ποιήσει πεποίηκάς μοι

10 εἶπεν δὲ αβιμελεχ τῷ αβρααμ τί ἐνιδὼν ἐποίησας τοῦτο

11 εἶπεν δὲ αβρααμ εἶπα γάρ ἄρα οὐκ ἔστιν θεοσέβεια ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ ἐμέ τε ἀποκτενοῦσιν ἕνεκεν τῆς γυναικός μου

12 καὶ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἀδελφή μού ἐστιν ἐκ πατρός ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκ μητρός ἐγενήθη δέ μοι εἰς γυναῖκα

13 ἐγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα ἐξήγαγέν με ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ εἶπα αὐτῇ ταύτην τὴν δικαιοσύνην ποιήσεις ἐπ' ἐμέ εἰς πάντα τόπον οὗ ἐὰν εἰσέλθωμεν ἐκεῖ εἰπὸν ἐμὲ ὅτι ἀδελφός μού ἐστιν

14 ἔλαβεν δὲ αβιμελεχ χίλια δίδραχμα πρόβατα καὶ μόσχους καὶ παῖδας καὶ παιδίσκας καὶ ἔδωκεν τῷ αβρααμ καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτῷ σαρραν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ

15 καὶ εἶπεν αβιμελεχ τῷ αβρααμ ἰδοὺ ἡ γῆ μου ἐναντίον σου οὗ ἐάν σοι ἀρέσκῃ κατοίκει

16 τῇ δὲ σαρρα εἶπεν ἰδοὺ δέδωκα χίλια δίδραχμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου ταῦτα ἔσται σοι εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ προσώπου σου καὶ πάσαις ταῖς μετὰ σοῦ καὶ πάντα ἀλήθευσον

17 προσηύξατο δὲ αβρααμ πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ ἰάσατο ὁ θεὸς τὸν αβιμελεχ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς παιδίσκας αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔτεκον

18 ὅτι συγκλείων συνέκλεισεν κύριος ἔξωθεν πᾶσαν μήτραν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ αβιμελεχ ἕνεκεν σαρρας τῆς γυναικὸς αβρααμ

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2523

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2523. She is my sister. That this signifies that it was the rational which should be consulted (that is, that he so thought), is evident from the signification of “sister” in this chapter as being rational truth (see n. 1495, 2508). In the internal sense of the Word the Lord’s whole life is described, such as it was to be in the world, even as to the perceptions and thoughts, for these were foreseen and provided because from the Divine; this being done for the additional reason that all these things might be set forth at that time as present to the angels, who perceive the Word according to the internal sense; and that so the Lord might be before them, and at the same time how by successive steps He put off the human, and put on the Divine. Unless these things had been as if present to the angels, through the Word, and also through all the rites in the Jewish Church, the Lord would have been obliged to come into the world immediately after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, which is called Man or Adam; for there was an immediate prophecy of the Lord’s advent (Genesis 3:15); and what is more, the human race of that time could not otherwise have been saved.

[2] As regards the Lord’s life itself, it was a continual progression of the Human to the Divine, even to absolute union (as already frequently stated), for in order that He might combat with the hells and overcome them, He must needs do it from the Human; for there is no combat with the hells from the Divine. It therefore pleased Him to put on the human like another man, to be an infant like another, to grow up into knowledges [in scientias et in cognitiones], which things are represented by Abraham’s sojourning in Egypt (chapter 12), and now in Gerar; thus it pleased Him to cultivate the rational as another man, and in this way to disperse its shade, and bring it into light, and this from His own power. That the Lord’s progression from the Human to the Divine was of this nature, can be denied by no one if he only considers that He was a little child, and learned to talk like one; and so on. But there was this difference: that the Divine Itself was in Him, seeing that He was conceived of Jehovah.

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