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Génesis 12

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1 EMPERO Jehová había dicho á Abram: Vete de tu tierra y de tu parentela, y de la casa de tu padre, á la tierra que te mostraré;

2 Y haré de ti una nación grande, y bendecirte he, y engrandeceré tu nombre, y serás bendición:

3 Y bendeciré á los que te bendijeren, y á los que te maldijeren maldeciré: y serán benditas en ti todas las familias de la tierra.

4 Y fuése Abram, como Jehová le dijo; y fué con él Lot: y era Abram de edad de setenta y cinco años cuando salió de Harán.

5 Y tomó Abram á Sarai su mujer, y á Lot hijo de su hermano, y toda su hacienda que habían ganado, y las almas que habían adquirido en Harán, y salieron para ir á tierra de Canaán; y á tierra de Canaán llegaron.

6 Y pasó Abram por aquella tierra hasta el lugar de Sichêm, hasta el valle de Moreh: y el Cananeo estaba entonces en la tierra.

7 Y apareció Jehová á Abram, y le dijo: A tu simiente daré esta tierra. Y edificó allí un altar á Jehová, que le había aparecido.

8 Y pasóse de allí á un monte al oriente de Bethel, y tendió su tienda, teniendo á Bethel al occidente y Hai al oriente: y edificó allí altar á Jehová é invocó el nombre de Jehová.

9 Y movió Abram de allí, caminando y yendo hacia el Mediodía.

10 Y hubo hambre en la tierra, y descendió Abram á Egipto para peregrinar allá; porque era grande el hambre en la tierra.

11 Y aconteció que cuando estaba para entrar en Egipto, dijo á Sarai su mujer: He aquí, ahora conozco que eres mujer hermosa de vista;

12 Y será que cuando te habrán visto los Egipcios, dirán: Su mujer es: y me matarán á mí, y á ti te reservarán la vida.

13 Ahora pues, di que eres mi hermana, para que yo haya bien por causa tuya, y viva mi alma por amor de ti.

14 Y aconteció que, como entró Abram en Egipto, los Egipcios vieron la mujer que era hermosa en gran manera.

15 Viéronla también los príncipes de Faraón, y se la alabaron; y fué llevada la mujer á casa de Faraón:

16 E hizo bien á Abram por causa de ella; y tuvo ovejas, y vacas, y asnos, y siervos, y criadas, y asnas y camellos.

17 Mas Jehová hirió á Faraón y á su casa con grandes plagas, por causa de Sarai mujer de Abram.

18 Entonces Faraón llamó á Abram y le dijo: ¿Qué es esto que has hecho conmigo? ¿Por qué no me declaraste que era tu mujer?

19 ¿Por qué dijiste: Es mi hermana? poniéndome en ocasión de tomarla para mí por mujer? Ahora pues, he aquí tu mujer, tómala y vete.

20 Entonces Faraón dió orden á sus gentes acerca de Abram; y le acompañaron, y á su mujer con todo lo que tenía.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #737

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737. 'Noah was a son of six hundred years' means his initial state of temptation. This is clear from the fact from here down to Eber in Chapter 11 nothing else is meant by numbers, years of age, or names than real things, as was the case also with the ages and names of all those mentioned in Chapter 5. Here 'six hundred years' means the initial state of temptation. This becomes clear from its prime factors which are ten and six multiplied again by ten. When the same factors are involved it makes no difference whether the number arrived at is large or small. As for ten, this has been shown already at 6:3 to mean remnants, while the meaning of six here as labour and conflict is clear from places throughout the Word. For the situation is this: What has gone before dealt with man's preparation for temptation, that is to say, he was supplied by the Lord with truths of the understanding and with goods of the will. These truths and goods are remnants, but they are not brought forth so as to be acknowledged until man is being regenerated. In the case of those who are being regenerated by means of temptations the remnants existing with any man are for the angels present with him. From these remnants they draw out those things with which they protect him against the evil spirits who activate falsities with him and in this way attack him. It is because remnants are meant by 'ten' and conflict by 'six' that six hundred years are spoken of, a number in which ten and six are the prime factors and which means a state of temptation.

[2] As regards conflict being the particular meaning of 'six', this is clear from Genesis 1, which describes the six days of man's regeneration prior to his becoming celestial. During those six days there was constant conflict, but on the seventh day came rest. Consequently there are six days of labour, and the seventh is the sabbath, a word which means rest. This also is why a Hebrew slave was to serve for six years and in the seventh was to go free, Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14, and why for six years they were to sow the land and gather in the produce, but in the seventh they were to leave it alone, Exodus 23:10-12. The same applied to a vineyard. It is also the reason why in the seventh year the land was to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to Jehovah, Leviticus 25:3-4. Because 'six' means labour and conflict it also means the dispersion of falsity, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which looks towards the north, every man with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. Ezekiel 9:2.

And in the same prophet, against Gog,

I will cause you to turn about, and I will split you into six, and cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north. Ezekiel 39:2.

Here 'six' and 'splitting into six' stand for dispersion, 'the north' for falsities, and 'Gog' for people who seize on doctrinal matters based on things of an external nature with which they destroy internal worship. From Job,

He will deliver you in six troubles, and in a seventh no evil will touch you. Job 5:19.

This stands for the conflict that constitutes temptations.

[3] 'Six' occurs in other parts of the Word where it does not mean labour, conflict, or the dispersion of falsity, but the holiness of faith. In these instances it is related to twelve, which means faith and all things of faith in their entirety, and to three which means that which is holy. Consequently there is also a genuine derivative meaning to the number six, as in Ezekiel 40:5, where the man's measuring rod with which he measured the holy city of Israel was six cubits long; and in other places. The reason for this derivative is that in the conflict of temptation the holiness of faith is present, and also that six days of labour and conflict look forward to the holy seventh day.

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