New Christian Bible Study

The Bible

 

Génesis 16

Study

   

1 Y Sarai, mujer de Abram no le daba hijos; y ella tenía una sierva egipcia, que se llamaba Agar.

2 Dijo, pues, Sarai a Abram: He aquí ahora el SEÑOR me ha vedado de dar a luz; te ruego que entres a mi sierva; por ventura tendré hijos de ella. Y oyó Abram al dicho de Sarai.

3 Y Sarai, la mujer de Abram, tomó a Agar su sierva egipcia, al cabo de diez años que había habitado Abram en la tierra de Canaán, y la dio a Abram su marido por mujer.

4 Y él entró a Agar, la cual concibió; y cuando vio que había concebido, miraba con desprecio a su señora.

5 Entonces Sarai dijo a Abram: Mi afrenta es sobre ti; yo puse mi sierva en tu seno, y viéndose embarazada, me mira con desprecio; juzgue el SEÑOR entre mí y ti.

6 Y respondió Abram a Sarai: He ahí tu sierva en tu mano, haz con ella lo que bien te pareciere. Entonces Sarai la afligió, y ella huyó de su presencia.

7 Y la halló el ángel del SEÑOR junto a una fuente de agua en el desierto, junto a la fuente que está en el camino del Sur.

8 Y le dijo: Agar, sierva de Sarai, ¿de dónde vienes tú, y a dónde vas? Y ella respondió: Huyo de delante de Sarai, mi señora.

9 Y le dijo el ángel del SEÑOR: Vuélvete a tu señora, y humíllate bajo su mano.

10 Le dijo también el ángel del SEÑOR: Multiplicaré tanto tu simiente, que no será contada por la multitud.

11 Y le dijo aun el ángel del SEÑOR: He aquí que has concebido, y darás a luz un hijo, y llamarás su nombre Ismael, porque ha oído el SEÑOR tu aflicción.

12 Y él será hombre fiero; su mano contra todos, y las manos de todos contra él, y delante de todos sus hermanos habitará.

13 Entonces ella llamó el nombre del SEÑOR que hablaba con ella, Atta el roi, Tú eres el Dios de la vista ; porque dijo: ¿No he visto también aquí las espaldas del que me vio?

14 Por lo cual llamó al pozo, pozo del Viviente que me ve. He aquí está entre Cades y Bered.

15 Y Agar dio a luz un hijo a Abram, y llamó Abram el nombre de su hijo que le dio Agar, Ismael.

16 Y era Abram de edad de ochenta y seis años, cuando Agar dio a luz a Ismael.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1988

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1988. 'Abram was a son of ninety-nine years' means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. This is clear from the meaning of 'nine' when thought of as one less than ten, or what amounts to the same, of 'ninety-nine' when thought of as one less than a hundred; for when Isaac was born to him Abram was a hundred years old. The nature of the internal sense of the Word is made especially clear by the numbers that are used, as it is by the names. Any numbers whatever, as also any names, that are mentioned in the Word mean real things; for nothing ever exists in the Word that does not have that which is Divine within it, that is, which does not have an internal sense within it. How remote this sense is from the sense of the letter is especially evident from the names and numbers, for in heaven they pay no attention whatever to names and numbers but to things meant by the names or numbers. For example, whenever the number seven occurs, holiness instantly suggests itself to angels instead of the number seven, for 'seven' means holiness from the fact that the celestial man is the seventh day or the sabbath, and so the Lord's rest, 84-87, 395, 433, 716, 881. The same applies to all other numbers, for example, to the number twelve. Whenever twelve occurs the idea of everything belonging to faith suggests itself to angels, for the reason that the twelve tribes of Israel meant everything belonging to faith, 577. That numbers mean real things in the Word has been shown in Volume One; see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893.

[2] It is similar with the number 'ninety-nine'. That this number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man is clear from the meaning of 'a hundred years', Abram's age when Isaac was born to him, for Isaac represents and means the Lord's Rational Man which was joined to His Internal, that is, to the Divine. In the Word 'a hundred' has the same meaning as ten, for that number is the product of ten multiplied by ten, and 'ten' means remnants, as shown in Volume One, in 576. For what remnants residing with man are, see 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, and for what remnants residing with the Lord were, 1906. These arcana cannot be explained any further, but anyone can find out for himself once he has acquainted himself with what remnants are - for nowadays what they are is not known - provided it is realized that by remnants residing with the Lord are meant the Divine Goods which He acquired to Himself by His own power, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.

[3] These considerations show what is meant by 'ninety-nine'. Being one less than a hundred, that number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. 'Ishmael' represented the first rational with the Lord, the nature of which has been shown adequately enough above in the previous chapter. But 'Isaac' represents the Lord's Divine Rational, as will be clear later on. Anyone may see that an arcanum is embodied within the following circumstance: Abram having remained such a long time in the land of Canaan - twenty-four years now, ten before Ishmael's birth, and thirteen after - and not as yet having had a son by Sarai his wife, he then first received the promise of a son, when he had now reached ninety-nine and would be a hundred when this son was born. The arcanum is that by means of these experiences he might represent the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and in fact of His Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with His Rational.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

The Bible

 

Revelation 16

Study

   

1 I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!"

2 The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

4 The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

5 I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things.

6 For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this."

7 I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments."

8 The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire.

9 People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory.

10 The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,

11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works.

12 The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.

13 I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;

14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.

15 "Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn't walk naked, and they see his shame."

16 He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.

17 The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"

18 There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.

19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

20 Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21 Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.

   

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org