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Genesis 19

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1 And there came two angels to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot seeing them, rose to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face towards the ground;

2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

5 And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men who came in to thee this night? bring them out to us, that we may know them.

6 And Lot went out at the door to them, and shut the door after him,

7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

8 Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only to these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one man came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: Now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed hard upon the man, Lot, and came near to break the door.

10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12 And the men said to Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has become great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

14 And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Arise, depart from this place; for the LORD will destroy this city: but he seemed to his sons-in-law as one that mocked.

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters: the LORD being merciful to him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life: look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

18 And Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my Lord!

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown to me in saving my life: and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil should take me, and I die:

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a small one: Oh, let me escape thither! (Is it not a small one?) and my soul shall live.

21 And he said to him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for which thou hast spoken.

22 Haste thee, escape thither: for I cannot do any thing till thou hast come thither: therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham rose early in the morning, to the place were he stood before the LORD:

28 And he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and towards all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

30 And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he, and his two daughters.

31 And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth:

32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the first-born went in and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34 And it came to pass on the morrow that the first born said to the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father; let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day.

38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #8211

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8211. 'And so it was in the morning watch' means a state of thick darkness and perdition for those steeped in falsity arising from evil, and a state of enlightenment and salvation for those guided by truth springing from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the morning watch' as a state of enlightenment and salvation, and in the contrary sense as a state of thick darkness and perdition. The reason why 'the morning watch' has this meaning is that states of faith and love in the next life are like the times of day in the world. That is to say, they are like morning, midday, evening, and night; and these therefore also correspond to those states, 2788, 5672, 5862, 6110. The states also change in almost the same ways. Whenever change takes place morning, and in particular twilight, is an end and a beginning; for night comes to an end and day begins. In that state to which morning corresponds the good begin to be enlightened in matters of faith and to grow warmer in aspects of charity. The opposite also takes place, for then the evil begin to be overshadowed by falsities and to be chilled by evils. Consequently morning for the latter is a state of thick darkness and perdition, but for the former a state of enlightenment and salvation.

[2] These states in heaven are what give rise to the states of light and heat on earth, and also the states of thick darkness and cold, which come round in turn each year and each day. Whatever arises in the natural world has its origin and cause in those things that arise in the spiritual world; for to be sure the whole natural order is nothing other than a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, 3483, 4939, 5173, 5962. And this is the reason for correspondences. Variations of light and shade on earth, also of heat and cold, are indeed attributable to the sun, that is to say, to its different heights in the sky each year and each day, and in different parts of the earth. Yet these causes, which are proximate ones and exist in the natural world, were created in accordance with those things that exist in the spiritual world. The latter are the prior efficient causes from which the former, their posterior causes, arise in the natural world. For nothing in a state of order can ever exist on a natural level if its cause and origin do not lead back to a spiritual level, that is, to the Divine operating through that level.

[3] Since 'the morning' means the beginning of enlightenment and salvation in respect of the good, and the beginning of thick darkness and perdition in respect of the evil, it therefore says here that in the morning watch Jehovah looked out onto the camp of the Egyptians and troubled it, and then that He took off the wheels of the chariots, and overturned them into the middle of the sea, while on the other hand He saved the children of Israel. All this now makes plain what is meant in the spiritual sense by the following texts in the Word: In Isaiah,

In the day you will cause your plant to grow, and in the morning your seed to flourish. Isaiah 17:11.

In the same prophet,

Around evening time, behold, terror! Before the morning, he is no more. Isaiah 17:14.

In the same prophet,

O Jehovah, be their arm every morning, also our salvation in the time of distress. Isaiah 33:2.

In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, An evil, a single evil; behold, it has come. An end has come, the end has come; the morning has come on you, O inhabitant of the land, a day of tumult is near. Ezekiel 7:5-7.

In Hosea,

Thus He did to you, O Bethel, 1 on account of your great wickedness; 2 in the morning the king of Israel will surely be cut off. Hosea 10:15

In David,

Cause me to hear Your mercy in the morning; deliver me from my enemies, O Jehovah. Psalms 143:8-9.

Also in Genesis 19:15 and following verses, stating that when dawn ascended the Lord saved Lot and rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.

[4] Since 'morning' means a state of enlightenment and salvation of the good, and a state of thick darkness and perdition of the evil, 'morning' also means the time of the last judgement, when those governed by good are to be saved and those ruled by evil will perish. It consequently means the end of a former Church and the beginning of a new Church, which are meant by a last judgement in the Word, 900, 931, 1733, 1850, 2117-2133, 3353, 4057, 4535. This is the meaning of 'morning' in Daniel,

He said to me, Up to the evening [when it is becoming] morning two thousand three hundred times, and then the sanctuary will be made correct. Daniel 8:14.

And in Zephaniah,

Jehovah ... in the morning, in the morning He will bring His judgement to light; He will not fail. I will cut off nations, and their towers 3 will be devastated. Zephaniah 3:5-6.

Also in Isaiah,

One was calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night. If you are inquiring, inquire, return, come. Isaiah 21:11-12.

In these places 'morning' stands for the Lord's Coming, and for enlightenment and salvation then, and so has reference to a new Church. 'Night' stands for the state of mankind and the Church then, that they are steeped in utter falsities arising from evil.

[5] The term 'the morning watch' is used because the night was divided into watches, the last of the night and the first of the day being the morning watch. The watchmen were on top of the walls, looking to see whether an enemy was coming and declaring what they saw by shouting it out. In the internal representative sense they are used to mean the Lord, and His keeping watch to mean constant presence and protection, 7989, as in David,

Your watchman will not slumber; behold, the watchman of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Jehovah is your watchman; Jehovah is your shade on your right hand. By day the sun will not strike you, nor the moon in the night. Jehovah will guard you from all evil; He will guard your soul. Psalms 121:3-7.

'Watchmen' is used in addition to mean prophets and priests, consequently the Word, in Isaiah,

Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have placed watchmen; all day and all night they will not be silent, calling Jehovah to mind. Isaiah 62:6.

And in Jeremiah,

It is a day [when] the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, Arise in order that we may go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God. Jeremiah 31:6.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin here possibly means Thus he [Shalmanezer] did to you, O Bethel or even Thus Bethel did to you.

2. literally, on account of the wickedness of your wickedness

3. literally, angles or corners

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