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Génesis 23

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1 Y fue la vida de Sara ciento veintisiete años; tantos fueron los años de la vida de Sara.

2 Y murió Sara en Quiriat-arba, que es Hebrón, en la tierra de Canaán; y vino Abraham a endechar a Sara, y a llorarla.

3 Y se levantó Abraham de delante de su muerta, y habló a los hijos de Het, diciendo:

4 Peregrino y advenedizo soy entre vosotros; dadme heredad de sepultura con vosotros, y sepultaré mi muerta de delante de mí.

5 Y respondieron los hijos de Het a Abraham, y le dijeron:

6 Oyenos, señor mío, eres un príncipe de Dios entre nosotros; en lo mejor de nuestras sepulturas sepulta a tu muerta; ninguno de nosotros te impedirá su sepultura, para que entierres tu muerta.

7 Y Abraham se levantó, y se inclinó al pueblo de aquella tierra, a los hijos de Het;

8 y habló con ellos, diciendo: Si tenéis voluntad que yo sepulte mi muerta de delante de mí, oídme, e interceded por mí con Efrón, hijo de Zohar,

9 para que me dé la cueva de Macpela, que tiene al cabo de su heredad; que por su justo precio me la dé, para heredad de sepultura en medio de vosotros.

10 Este Efrón habitaba entre los hijos de Het; y respondió Efrón heteo a Abraham, en oídos de los hijos de Het, de todos los que entraban por la puerta de su ciudad, diciendo:

11 No, señor mío, óyeme: te doy la heredad, y te doy también la cueva que está en ella; delante de los hijos de mi pueblo te la doy; sepulta tu muerta.

12 Y Abraham se inclinó delante del pueblo de la tierra.

13 Y respondió a Efrón en oídos del pueblo de la tierra, diciendo: Antes, si te place , te ruego que me oigas; yo daré el precio de la heredad, tómalo de mí, y sepultaré en ella mi muerta.

14 Y respondió Efrón a Abraham, diciéndole:

15 Señor mío, escúchame: la tierra vale cuatrocientos siclos de plata; ¿qué es esto entre mí y ti? Entierra pues tu muerta.

16 Entonces Abraham se convino con Efrón, y pesó Abraham a Efrón el dinero que dijo, oyéndolo los hijos de Het, cuatrocientos siclos de plata, corrientes por los mercaderes.

17 Y quedó la heredad de Efrón que estaba en Macpela enfrente de Mamre, la heredad y la cueva que estaba en ella, y todos los árboles que había en la heredad, y en todo su término al derredor,

18 de Abraham en posesión, a vista de los hijos de Het, y de todos los que entraban por la puerta de su ciudad.

19 Y después de esto sepultó Abraham a Sara su mujer en la cueva de la heredad de Macpela enfrente de Mamre, que es Hebrón en la tierra de Canaán.

20 Y quedó la heredad y la cueva que en ella había , de Abraham, en heredad de sepultura comprada de los hijos de Het.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #4447

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4447. And Hamor spoke with them, saying. That this signifies the good of the Church among the Ancients, is evident from the representation of Hamor, as being what is from the ancients (see n. 4431), that is, the good of the church which was among them. For the good of the church is father, and the derivative truth (“Shechem”) is son; and therefore by “father” in the Word is signified good, and by “son” truth. It is here said “the good of the Church among the Ancients,” but not “the good of the Ancient Church,” for the reason that by the “Church among the Ancients” is meant the church that was derived from the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, and by the “Ancient Church” is meant the church that existed after the flood. These two churches have sometimes been treated of in the preceding pages, and it has been shown that the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood was celestial, but the Ancient Church which was after the flood was spiritual, and the difference between them has often been treated of.

[2] The remains of the Most Ancient Church which was celestial still existed in the land of Canaan, especially among those called Hittites and Hivites. The reason why these remains did not exist anywhere else was that the Most Ancient Church called “Man” or “Adam” (n. 478, 479) was in the land of Canaan, and therefore the “garden of Eden,” by which was signified the intelligence and wisdom of the men of that church (n. 100, 1588), and by the trees in it their perception, (n. 103, 2163, 2722, 2972), was in that land. And because intelligence and wisdom were signified by this “garden” or paradise, the church itself was meant by it; and because the church was meant, so also was heaven; and because heaven, so also in the supreme sense, was the Lord; and therefore in this sense the “land of Canaan” itself signifies the Lord, in the relative sense heaven and also the church, and in the individual sense the man of the church (n. 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705); and therefore also the term “land” or “earth” when mentioned alone in the Word has a like signification (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 3355); the “new heaven and new earth” being a new church in respect to its internal and its external (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355). That the Most Ancient Church was in the land of Canaan may be seen in n. 567; and the result of this was that the places there became representative, and for this reason Abram was commanded to go there, and the land was given to his descendants the sons of Jacob in order that the representatives of the places in accordance with which the Word was to be written, might be retained. (See n. 3686 and that for the same reason all the places there, as well as the mountains and rivers, and all the borders round about, became representative, n. 1585, 1866, 4240.)

[3] All this shows what is here meant by the “Church among the Ancients,” namely, remains from the Most Ancient Church. And as these remains existed among the Hittites and Hivites, therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with their wives, obtained a place of burial with the Hittites in their land (Genesis 23:1-20; 49:29-32; 50:13); and Joseph with the Hivites (Josh. 24:32). Hamor the father of Shechem represented the remains of this Church, and therefore by him is signified the good of the Church among the Ancients, and consequently the origin of interior truth from a Divine stock (n. 4399). (What the distinction is between the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and the Ancient Church which was after the flood, may be seen above, n. 597, 607, 608, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1128, 1238, 1327, 2896, 2897.)

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