The Bible

 

Genesis 13

Study

   

1 At umahon sa Timugan si Abram mula sa Egipto, siya at ang kaniyang asawa, at ang lahat ng kaniyang tinatangkilik, at si Lot na kaniyang kasama.

2 At si Abram ay totoong mayaman sa hayop, sa pilak, at sa ginto.

3 At nagpatuloy si Abram ng kaniyang paglalakbay mula sa Timugan hanggang sa Bethel, hanggang sa dakong kinaroroonan noong una ng kaniyang tolda sa pagitan ng Bethel at ng Hai;

4 Sa dako ng dambana na kaniyang ginawa roon nang una: at sinambitla doon ni Abram ang pangalan ng Panginoon.

5 At si Lot man na kinasama ni Abram ay may tupahan at bakahan, at mga tolda.

6 At sila'y hindi makayanan ng lupain, na sila'y manahan na magkasama: sapagka't napakarami ang kanilang pag-aari, na ano pa't hindi maaring manirahang magkasama.

7 At nagkaroon ng pagtatalo ang mga pastor ng hayop ni Abram at ang mga pastor ng hayop ni Lot; at ang Cananeo at ang Pherezeo ay naninirahan noon sa lupain.

8 At sinabi ni Abram kay Lot, Ipinamamanhik ko sa iyong huwag magkaroon ng pagtatalo, ikaw at ako, at ang mga pastor mo at mga pastor ko; sapagka't tayo'y magkapatid.

9 Di ba ang buong lupain ay nasa harap mo? Humiwalay ka nga sa akin, ipinamamanhik ko sa iyo: kung ikaw ay pasa sa kaliwa, ay pasa sa kanan ako: o kung ikaw ay pasa sa kanan, ay pasa sa kaliwa ako.

10 At itiningin ni Lot ang kaniyang mga mata, at natanaw niya ang buong kapatagan ng Jordan, na pawang patubigan na magaling sa magkabikabila, kung pasa sa Zoar, bago giniba ng Panginoon ang Sodoma at Gomorra, ay gaya ng halamanan ng Panginoon, gaya ng lupain ng Egipto.

11 Kaya't pinili ni Lot sa kaniya ang buong kapatagan ng Jordan; at si Lot ay naglakbay sa silanganan: at sila'y kapuwa naghiwalay.

12 Tumahan si Abram sa lupain ng Canaan; at si Lot ay tumahan sa mga bayan ng kapatagan, at inilipat ang kaniyang tolda hanggang sa Sodoma.

13 Ang mga tao nga sa Sodoma ay masasama at mga makasalanan sa harap ng Panginoon.

14 At sinabi ng Panginoon kay Abram, pagkatapos na makahiwalay si Lot sa kaniya, Itingin mo ngayon ang iyong mga mata, at tumanaw ka mula sa dakong iyong kinalalagyan, sa dakong hilagaan, at sa dakong timugan, at sa dakong silanganan, at sa dakong kalunuran:

15 Sapagka't ang buong lupaing iyong natatanaw ay ibibigay ko sa iyo, at sa iyong binhi magpakaylan man.

16 At gagawin kong parang alabok ng lupa ang iyong binhi: na ano pa't kung mabibilang ng sinoman ang alabok ng lupa ay mabibilang nga rin ang iyong binhi.

17 Magtindig ka, lakarin mo ang lupain, ang hinabahaba at niluwang-luwang niyan; sapagka't ibibigay ko sa iyo.

18 At binuhat ni Abram ang kaniyang tolda, at yumaon at tumahan sa mga punong encina ni Mamre na nasa Hebron, at siya'y nagtayo roon ng dambana sa Panginoon.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1661

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1661. 'And so it was in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim' means just so many kinds of apparent goods and truths which are not in themselves goods and truths, and which were present with the Lord's external Man. This becomes clear from the meaning of all these in the internal sense, and also from what follows. For the subject is the Lord's conflict against evils and falsities, here His first conflict which came during His childhood and earliest adolescence. That conflict He first entered into and endured after He had been endowed with knowledge and cognitions, hence the expression 'in the days of' these kings.

[2] Nobody can possibly fight against evils and falsities until he knows what evil and falsity are, not therefore until he has received instruction. A person does not know what evil is, still less what falsity is, before he is capable of understanding and of forming judgements for himself, which is the reason why a person does not enter into temptations until he has reached the age of maturity. Thus everyone is tempted in adult life, but the Lord was tempted even in childhood.

[3] Everyone fights first of all from the goods and truths he has received by means of cognitions, and it is from them and by means of them that he forms judgements concerning evils and falsities. Everyone furthermore when he first starts to fight imagines that these goods and truths from which he fights are his own, that is, he ascribes them to himself, and at the same time ascribes to himself the power by which he resists. This is allowed because a person cannot at the time know anything different. Before anyone has been regenerated he cannot possibly know, so as to be able to say that he knows, acknowledges, and believes, that no good or truth at all comes from self, but that everything good and true comes from the Lord; nor can he possibly know that he is unable by his own power to resist any evil or falsity. Indeed he does not know that evil spirits are activating and implanting the evils and falsities, still less that he is in communication with hell by means of evil spirits, and that hell presses on him like the sea against every part of a dike, which he can by no means resist by his own strength. Yet because he cannot do otherwise, until he has been regenerated, than imagine that he resists by his own strength, this too is permitted; and in this condition he is admitted into conflicts, or temptations. Subsequently however he becomes more and more enlightened.

[4] When a person's state is such that he imagines that good and truth originate in himself and that the power to resist is his own, the goods and truths from which he fights against evils and falsities are not really goods and truths, however much they appear to be so, for they have that which is his own within them, and he places self-merit in victory, boasting as though it were he that had overcome evil and falsity, when in fact it is the Lord alone who fights and overcomes. That this is indeed so none can know except those who are being regenerated by means of temptations.

[5] Because the Lord in earliest childhood was led into very serious conflicts against evils and falsities it was inevitable that at that time even He should think that way. This happened both because it was according to Divine order that His Human Essence should through continuous conflicts and victories be brought to the Divine Essence and united to it, and because the goods and truths from which He fought against evils and falsities belonged to the External Man. And because those goods and truths were not completely Divine they are for that reason called appearances of good and truth. His Divine Essence brought the Human Essence to itself in this way in order that it might overcome by its own power. The arcana here however are more than can possibly be described. In short, in those first conflicts the goods and truths residing with the Lord from which He fought were permeated by things inherited from the mother, and insofar as they were permeated by things inherited from the mother they were not Divine. Gradually however, as He overcame evil and falsity they were purified and made Divine.

  
/ 10837  
  

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