The Bible

 

Genesis 16

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1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee go in to my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, my wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

6 But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

13 And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-la-hai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bore, Ishmael.

16 And Abram was eighty six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1963

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1963. Abram was a son of eighty years and six years. That this signifies the Lord’s state in respect to the celestial good acquired by means of the combats of temptations, is evident from the signification of “eighty,” in which number is involved much the same as in “forty;” and that these numbers signify temptations has been already shown (n. 730, 862); and from the signification of “six,” as being combat, also explained before (n. 720, 737, 900); and further from the signification of “ten,” as being remains (treated of, n. 576); which remains in the Lord’s case were the possessions of celestial goods by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence (n. 1906, at the end). These three numbers are components of the number eighty-six, in which such things are involved, and which thus signifies the Lord’s state in regard to the celestial good acquired by means of the combats of temptations; for all numbers in the Word signify actual things (as before shown, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813). As in this case the numbers mentioned are numbers of years, and as they are also mentioned in historical connection with Abram, it appears as if they were not significative of such things. But there is nothing written in the Word which does not pass into a spiritual and a celestial sense when it passes over to the angels; for angels are in none other than spiritual and celestial ideas, and when the Word is being read by a man, the angels neither know nor perceive what “eighty-six” is, nor do they care of what age Abram was when Hagar bare Ishmael to him; but from such a number, when read, the things involved in the numbers immediately come to them; and the same is the case with all the other expressions, as they have been explained in the internal sense.

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