The Bible

 

1 Mosebok 21

Study

   

1 Og Herren så til Sara som han hadde sagt, og Herren gjorde med Sara som han hadde lovt.

2 Sara blev fruktsommelig og fødte Abraham en sønn i hans alderdom på den fastsatte tid som Gud hadde talt til ham om.

3 Og Abraham kalte den sønn han hadde fått, den som Sara hadde født ham, Isak.

4 Og Abraham omskar Isak, sin sønn, da han var åtte dager gammel, således som Gud hadde befalt ham.

5 Abraham var hundre år gammel da han fikk sin sønn Isak.

6 Da sa Sara: Gud har gjort det så at jeg må le; alle som hører dette, vil le av mig.

7 Og hun sa: Hvem skulde vel ha sagt til Abraham at Sara gir barn å die? Og nu har jeg født ham en sønn i hans alderdom.

8 Og gutten vokste op og blev avvent; og Abraham gjorde et stort gjestebud den dag Isak blev avvent.

9 Og Sara så at egypterkvinnen Hagars sønn, som hun hadde født Abraham, spottet,

10 og hun sa til Abraham: Driv ut denne trælkvinne og hennes sønn! For denne trælkvinnes sønn skal ikke arve med min sønn, med Isak.

11 Dette gjorde Abraham meget ondt for hans sønns skyld.

12 Men Gud sa til Abraham: La det ikke gjøre dig ondt for guttens og for din trælkvinnes skyld! Lyd Sara i alt det hun sier til dig! For i Isak skal det nevnes dig en ætt.

13 Men også trælkvinnens sønn vil jeg gjøre til et folk, fordi han er din sønn.

14 Da stod Abraham tidlig op om morgenen og tok brød og en skinnsekk med vann og gav Hagar og la det på hennes skulder; han gav henne også gutten med og lot henne fare. Og hun gikk avsted og for vill i Be'erseba-ørkenen.

15 Da det var forbi med vannet i sekken, kastet hun gutten fra sig under en busk

16 og gikk bort og satte sig et stykke ifra, sa langt som et bueskudd; for hun tenkte: Jeg vil ikke se på at gutten dør. Så satt hun et stykke ifra og brast i gråt.

17 Men Gud hørte gutten ynke sig, og Guds engel ropte til Hagar fra himmelen og sa til henne: Hvad fattes dig, Hagar? Frykt ikke! For Gud har hørt gutten ynke sig der han ligger.

18 eis dig, løft gutten op og hold ham ved hånden! For jeg vil gjøre ham til et stort folk.

19 Og Gud åpnet hennes øine, så hun så en brønn; da gikk hun dit og fylte sekken med vann og gav gutten å drikke.

20 Og Gud var med gutten; han blev stor og bodde i ørkenen, og da han vokste til, blev han bueskytter.

21 Han bosatte sig i ørkenen Paran, og hans mor tok en hustru til ham fra Egypten.

22 Ved denne tid kom Abimelek og Pikol, hans hærfører, og sa til Abraham: Gud er med dig i alt det du gjør.

23 Så tilsverg mig nu her ved Gud at du ikke vil fare med svik mot mig og mine barn og min ætt! Likesom jeg har vist godhet mot dig, så skal du gjøre det samme mot mig og mot det land du bor i som fremmed.

24 Da sa Abraham: Ja, det skal jeg tilsverge dig.

25 Men Abraham gikk i rette med Abimelek for en brønn som Abimeleks tjenere hadde tatt med vold.

26 Da sa Abimelek: Jeg vet ikke hvem som har gjort dette; hverken har du sagt mig det, eller har jeg hørt det før idag.

27 Da tok Abraham småfe og storfe og gav Abimelek, og de gjorde en pakt med hverandre.

28 Og Abraham stilte syv får av småfeet for sig selv.

29 Da sa Abimelek til Abraham Hvad skal disse syv får her som du har stilt for sig selv?

30 Han svarte: Disse syv får skal du ta imot av mig; det skal være til et vidnesbyrd for mig at jeg har gravd denne brønn.

31 Derfor kalte de dette sted Be'erseba*; for der gjorde de begge sin ed. / {* Edsbrønnen.}

32 Så gjorde de da en pakt i Be'erseba; og Abimelek og Pikol, hans hærfører, brøt op og vendte tilbake til filistrenes land.

33 Og Abraham plantet en tamarisk i Be'erseba, og der påkalte han Herrens, den evige Guds navn.

34 Og Abraham bodde som fremmed i filistrenes land en lang tid.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2689

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

2689. 'And lifted up her voice and wept' means a further degree of grief. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'lifting up the voice and weeping' as the utmost extremity of grief, for weeping with a loud voice is nothing else. Described in this verse is a state of desolation of truth and of withdrawal from truths, as experienced by those who are becoming spiritual. What this state is like must be explained briefly: People who are not able to be reformed have no knowledge at all of what it is to grieve on account of being deprived of truths, for they imagine that no one can possibly become distressed for a reason such as that. The only circumstances, they believe, which can lead to such distress exist when someone is deprived of those good gifts to men that are of a bodily and worldly kind, such as health, position, reputation, wealth, and life. But those who are able to be reformed believe altogether differently. They are maintained by the Lord in the affection for good and in the thought of truth, and therefore come to be distressed when deprived of these.

[2] It is well known that all distress and grief are the result of a person's being deprived of the things for which he has affection, that is, which he loves. Those whose affection is solely for bodily and worldly things, that is, who love solely these, grieve when deprived of them, whereas those whose affection is for spiritual goods and truths, and who love these, grieve when deprived of them. The life in any person is nothing else than affection or love. From this one may see the nature of the state of those who are desolated as regards the goods and truths for which they have affection, that is, which they love; that is to say, one may see that their state of grief, being more interior, is more severe, and that in being deprived of good and truth it is not death of the body which they are bothered about but eternal death. It is their state which is described here.

[3] So that it may also be known which people can be maintained by the Lord in the affection for good and truth and so be reformed and become spiritual, and which ones cannot, this too must be explained briefly. In childhood everyone, when being for the first time endowed with goods and truths, is maintained by the Lord in the affirmative attitude that anything said or taught by parents and teachers is true. With those who are able to become spiritual this affirmative attitude is strengthened by means of facts and cognitions, for whatever they learn and is relevant introduces itself into the affirmative outlook and strengthens it, leading more and more towards affection for it. These are ones who become spiritual in accordance with the essence of the truth in which they have faith, and who are victorious in temptations. But it is quite different with those who are not able to become spiritual. Although in childhood an affirmative attitude exists with them, when they are older they allow doubts to enter in which thus destroy the affirmative attitude towards good and truth. And when they reach adult years they allow denials to enter in, and even the affection for what is false to enter in. If such people were led into temptations they would give in completely. Consequently they are kept free from them.

[4] But the real reason why they allow doubts and subsequently denials to enter in may be traced back to their life of evil. People who lead a life of evil cannot possibly do otherwise. The life in any person, as has been stated, is affection or love, and as is the nature of that affection or love so is the nature of his thought. The affection for evil and the thought of truth never join themselves together. In cases where they seem to join themselves, they do not in fact do so, for the thought of truth exists without the affection for it. With such people therefore truth is not truth, but merely a sound or something on the lips, from which the heart is far away. Even very wicked people can know such truth, better than anybody else sometimes. Some are also so strongly persuaded by truth of that kind that no one can see it as other than genuine. But it is not genuine truth if the life of good is absent. It is affection belonging to self-love or love of the world which causes that strong persuasion of it, which they also defend with a vehemence that is evidence of apparent zeal; indeed they go so far as to condemn people who do not receive it or believe it in a similar way. But this kind of truth varies from one person to another according to his basic way of thinking, the strength of that truth depending on the strength of his self-love or his love of the world. It is, it is true, born together with evil, but it does not join itself to evil, and therefore in the next life is rooted out. It is different in the case of those who lead a life of good; in them the truth itself finds its soil, and its ability to grow, and from the Lord its life.

  
/ 10837  
  

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