The Bible

 

Postanak 20

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1 A Avram otide odande na jug, i stani se između Kadisa i Sura; i živeše kao došljak u Geraru.

2 I govoraše za ženu svoju Saru: Sestra mi je. A car gerarski Avimeleh posla te uze Saru.

3 Ali dođe Bog Avimelehu noću u snu, i reče mu: Gle, poginućeš sa žene koju si uzeo, jer ima muža.

4 A Avimeleh ne beše se nje dotakao, i zato reče: Gospode, eda li ćeš i pravedan narod pogubiti?

5 Nije li mi sam kazao: Sestra mi je? A i ona sama kaza: Brat mi je. Učinio sam u čistoti srca svog i u pravdi ruku svojih.

6 Tada mu reče Bog u snu: Znam da si učinio u čistoti srca svog, zato te sačuvah da mi ne sagrešiš, i ne dadoh da je se dotakneš.

7 A sada vrati čoveku ženu njegovu, jer je prorok, i moliće se za te, te ćeš ostati živ. Ako li ne vratiš, znaj da ćeš umreti ti i svi tvoji.

8 I ujutru rano usta Avimeleh, i sazva sve sluge svoje, i kaza im sve ovo da čuju. I uplašiše se ljudi veoma.

9 Tada Avimeleh dozva Avrama i reče mu: Šta si nam učinio? Šta li sam ti zgrešio, te navuče na me i na carstvo moje toliko zlo? Učinio si mi šta ne valja činiti.

10 I još reče Avimeleh Avramu: Šta ti je bilo, te si to učinio?

11 A Avram odgovori: Govorih: jamačno nema straha Božjeg u ovom mestu, pa će me ubiti radi žene moje.

12 A upravo i jeste mi sestra, kći oca mog; ali nije kći moje matere, pa pođe za me.

13 A kad me Bog izvede iz doma oca mog, ja joj rekoh: Učini dobro, i kaži za me gde god dođemo: Brat mi je.

14 Tada Avimeleh uze ovaca i goveda i sluga i sluškinja, te dade Avramu, i vrati mu Saru ženu njegovu.

15 I reče Avimeleh Avramu: Evo, zemlja ti je moja otvorena, živi slobodno gde ti je volja.

16 A Sari reče: Evo dao sam tvom bratu hiljadu srebrnika; gle, on ti je očima pokrivalo pred svima koji budu s tobom; i to sve da ti je za nauku.

17 I Avram se pomoli Bogu, i isceli Bog Avimeleha i ženu njegovu i sluškinje njegove, te rađahu.

18 Jer Gospod beše sasvim zatvorio svaku matericu u domu Avimelehovom radi Sare žene Avramove.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2523

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2523. 'She is my sister' means that it was the rational which ought to be consulted, that is to say, He thought that such a consultation should take place. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sister' in this chapter as rational truth, dealt with in 1495, 2508. In the internal sense of the Word the Lord's entire life is described, as it was going to be when He was in the world, even as to His perceptions and thoughts. For these things had been foreseen and provided, since they were from the Divine. A further reason for this provision of them in the internal sense was so that the things of the Lord's life in the world might be manifested as present realities to the angels, who perceive the Word according to its internal sense. In this way the Lord was placed before them, and at the same time the manner in which He gradually cast off the human and put on the Divine. Unless these things had been manifested to the angels as present realities by means of the Word, and also by means of all the religious observances of the Jewish Church, it would have been necessary for the Lord to come into the world immediately after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, which is called 'Man' or Adam; for the Lord's Advent was foretold immediately the Fall took place, Genesis 3:15. And what is more, the human race existing at that time could not otherwise have been saved.

[2] As regards the Lord's life itself, it was a life in which the Human was constantly advancing towards the Divine, even to complete union, as stated many times already. For to fight the hells and overcome them He had to do so from the Human, since no conflict with the hells takes place from the Divine. That being so, He was pleased to put on the human as any other person; to be a small child as any other; to grow in knowledge and cognitions which were represented and meant by Abraham's sojourning in Egypt, Chapter 12, and now in Gerar. Thus He was pleased to develop the rational like any other person and to dispel the shadow enveloping it and to bring it into light, and to do so from His own power. That the Lord advanced in this manner from the Human to the Divine, no one can be in any doubt if he merely considers the fact that He was a small child, and learned to talk as any small child does, and so on. But there was this difference, that the Divine itself dwelt within Him because He had been conceived from Jehovah.

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