The Bible

 

Genesis 20

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1 And Abraham journeyed from thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Kadash and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister: And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, on account of the woman whom thou hast taken: for she is a man's wife.

4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou also slay a righteous nation?

5 Said he not to me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself Said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart, and innocence of my hands have I done this.

6 And God said to him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore I suffered thee not to touch her.

7 Now therefore restore to the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou shalt not restore her, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine.

8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were greatly afraid.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, What has thou done to us? and in what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds to me that ought not to be done.

10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

12 And yet indeed she is my sister: she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt show to me; At every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and women-servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored to him Sarah his wife.

15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

16 And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, to all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

17 So Abraham prayed to God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants, and they bore children.

18 For the LORD had made barren all the females of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #2575

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2575. Behold I have given to thy brother a thousand of silver. That this signifies an infinite abundance of rational truth adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of a “thousand,” as being much and countless; here infinite, or an infinite abundance, because predicated of the Lord (concerning which signification see below); from the signification of “silver,” as being rational truth (see n. 1551, 2048); and from the signification of “brother,” as being celestial good adjoined to rational truth, as a brother to a sister (n. 2524, 2557). From all this it is evident that “I have given to thy brother a thousand of silver” signifies an infinite abundance of rational truth adjoined to good. Its being given to good, which is the “brother,” but not to truth, is because truth is from good, not good from truth. (Concerning this infinite abundance, see above, n. 2572.)

[2] That in the Word a “thousand” signifies much and countless, and when predicated of the Lord what is infinite, is manifest from the following passages.

In Moses:

I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:5-6; 34:7; Deuteronomy 5:9-10).

And in Jeremiah:

Jehovah showeth mercy unto thousands, and recompenseth the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them (Jeremiah 32:18).

In these passages by “thousands” is not signified any definite number, but what is infinite, for the Lord’s mercy is infinite, because Divine.

In David:

The chariots of God are two myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them, Sinai in holiness (Psalms 68:17); where “myriads” and “thousands” denote things innumerable.

[3] In the same:

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and a myriad at thy right hand; it shall not come nigh thee (Psalms 91:7); where also a “thousand” and a “myriad” denote things innumerable; and as it is concerning the Lord, who in the Psalms is meant by “David,” they denote all who are His enemies. In the same:

Our garners are full, affording all manner of food, our flocks bring forth a thousand and ten thousand in our streets (Psalms 144:13); where also a “thousand,” and “ten thousand,” that is, a myriad, denote things innumerable. In the same:

A thousand years in Thine eyes are as yesterday when it is past (Psalms 90:4);

a “thousand years” denote what is without time, and therefore eternity, which is infinity of time.

In Isaiah:

One thousand from before the rebuke of one, from before the rebuke of five shall ye flee, until ye be left as a mast upon the top of a mountain (Isaiah 30:17); where “one thousand” denotes many without any definite number; and “five” a few (n. 649).

In Moses:

Jehovah the God of your fathers make you a thousand times as many more as ye are, and bless you (Deuteronomy 1:11); where a “thousand times” denotes numberless, as in common speech, in which also a “thousand” is used for many; as when it is said that a thing has been said a thousand times, or done in a thousand ways. In like manner in Joshua:

One man of you shall chase a thousand, for Jehovah your God fighteth for you (Josh. 23:10).

[4] As in computation a “thousand” is a definite number, it appears in the prophecies, especially when connected with history, as if a “thousand” meant simply a thousand, when yet it signifies many or innumerable, apart from any fixed number; for historical matters are of such a nature as to determine the ideas into the nearest and proper significations of the words, as also to the names given; when yet real things are signified in the Word by numbers as well as by names (as is evident from what has been shown before, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252). Hence also it is supposed by some that by the “thousand years” in the Revelation (Revelation 20:1-7) there are meant a thousand years or a thousand periods, for the reason as already said that things prophetic are there described under the form of history; when yet by the “thousand years” nothing is there meant except an indeterminate large amount, as elsewhere also infinity of time, or eternity.

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