The Bible

 

Postanak 17

Study

   

1 A kad Avramu bi devedeset i devet godina, javi mu se Gospod i reče mu: Ja sam Bog Svemogući, po mojoj volji živi, i budi pošten.

2 I učiniću zavet između sebe i tebe, i vrlo ću te umnožiti.

3 A Avram pade ničice. I Gospod mu još govori i reče:

4 Od mene evo zavet moj s tobom da ćeš biti otac mnogim narodima.

5 Zato se više nećeš zvati Avram nego će ti ime biti Avraam, jer sam te učinio ocem mnogih naroda;

6 Daću ti porodicu vrlo veliku, i načiniću od tebe narode mnoge, i carevi će izaći od tebe.

7 A postavljam zavet svoj između sebe i tebe i semena tvog nakon tebe od kolena do kolena, da je zavet večan, da sam Bog tebi i semenu tvom nakon tebe;

8 I daću tebi i semenu tvom nakon tebe zemlju u kojoj si došljak, svu zemlju hanansku u državu večnu, i biću im Bog.

9 I reče Bog Avramu: Ti pak drži zavet moj, ti i seme tvoje nakon tebe od kolena do kolena.

10 A ovo je zavet moj između mene i vas i semena tvog nakon tebe koji ćete držati: da se obrezuju između vas sve muškinje.

11 A obrezivaćete okrajak tela svog, da bude znak zaveta između mene i vas.

12 Svako muško dete kad mu bude osam dana da se obrezuje od kolena do kolena, rodilo se u kući ili bilo kupljeno za novce od kojih god stranaca, koje ne bude od semena tvog.

13 Da se obrezuje koje se rodi u kući tvojoj i koje se kupi za novce tvoje; tako će biti zavet moj na telu vašem zavet večan.

14 A neobrezano muško, kome se ne obreže okrajak tela njegovog, da se istrebi iz naroda svog, jer pokvari zavet moj.

15 I još reče Bog Avramu: A Saru ženu svoju ne zovi je više Sara nego neka joj bude ime Saara.

16 I ja ću je blagosloviti, i daću ti sina od nje; blagosloviću je, i biće mati mnogim narodima, i carevi narodima izaći će od nje.

17 Tada pade Avram ničice i nasmeja se govoreći u srcu svom: Eda će se čoveku od sto godina roditi sin? I Sari? Eda će žena od devedeset godina roditi?

18 I Avram reče Bogu: Neka živ bude Ismailo pred Tobom!

19 I reče Bog: Zaista Sara žena tvoja rodiće ti sina, i nadećeš mu ime Isak; i postaviću zavet svoj s njim da bude zavet večan semenu njegovom nakon njega.

20 A i za Ismaila uslišio sam te; evo blagoslovio sam ga, i daću mu porodicu veliku, i umnožiću ga veoma; i rodiće dvanaest knezova, i načiniću od njega velik narod.

21 A zavet svoj učiniću s Isakom kad ti ga rodi Sara, do godine u ovo doba.

22 I Bog izgovorivši otide od Avrama gore.

23 I Avram uze Ismaila sina svog i sve koji se rodiše u domu njegovom i koje god beše kupio za svoje novce, sve muškinje od domaćih svojih; i obreza okrajak tela njihovog u isti dan, kao što mu kaza Bog.

24 A beše Avramu devedeset i devet godina kad obreza okrajak tela svog.

25 A Ismailu sinu njegovom beše trinaest godina kad mu se obreza okrajak tela njegovog.

26 U jedan dan obreza se Avram i sin mu Ismailo,

27 I svi domašnji njegovi, rođeni u kući i kupljeni za novce od stranaca, biše obrezani s njim.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1990

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1990. 'Jehovah appeared to Abram' means manifestation. This is clear without explanation, for, as has been stated, Abram represents the Lord. No human being at all in the whole world has seen Jehovah, the Lord's Father; the Lord alone has done that, as He Himself has stated in John,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

In the same gospel,

You have never heard His voice nor seen His shape. John 1:37.

And again in the same gospel,

No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father, He has seen the Father. John 6:46.

[2] The Infinite itself which stands above all the heavens and above man's inmost being cannot be manifested except by means of the Divine Human, which exists solely with the Lord. Communication of the Infinite with finite beings is not possible at all from any other source. This also explains why, when Jehovah appeared to members of the Most Ancient Church and subsequently to members of the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood, and also after that to Abraham and the prophets, He was manifested to them as a human being. That it was indeed the Lord, He Himself openly teaches in John,

Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day, and saw it and was glad. Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:56, 58.

This is also taught in the Prophets, for example in Daniel who saw Him as 'a son of man', Daniel 7:13.

[3] From these quotations it becomes clear that the Infinite Being (Esse), which is Jehovah, could not possibly be manifested to man except through the Human Essence, that is, through the Lord, and so has not been manifested to anyone except the Lord alone. So that He could be present with and be joined to mankind, after mankind had removed itself entirely from the Divine and had immersed itself in foul desires and so in merely bodily and earthly things, He adopted the Human Essence itself by being born. He did so in order that the Infinite Divine could be joined to man even though man was so remote. Otherwise mankind would have died the death of those for ever damned. As for all the other arcana concerning the manifestation of Jehovah in the Lord's Human, when His state was a state of humiliation, before He had fully united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and glorified it, these will in the Lord's Divine mercy be explained later on, to the extent that they are capable of being understood.

  
/ 10837  
  

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