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Genesis 14

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1 It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,

2 that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).

3 All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea).

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year, they rebelled.

5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

6 and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

7 They returned, and came to En Mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar.

8 The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim;

9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five.

10 Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills.

11 They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way.

12 They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

13 One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were allies of Abram.

14 When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

15 He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

16 He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17 The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High.

19 He blessed him, and said, "blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:

20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave him a tenth of all.

21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself."

22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

23 that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'

24 I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2714

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2714. That “Paran” is illumination from the Lord’s Divine Human, is evident from the signification of “Paran,” as being the Lord’s Divine Human, which is manifest from the passages in the Word where it is named, as in the prophet Habakkuk:

O Jehovah, I have heard Thy fame, I was afraid; O Jehovah, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in zeal remember mercy. God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran; Selah: His honor covered the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise; and His brightness shall be as the light. He had horns going out from His hand, and there was the hiding of His strength (Hab. 3:2-4); where the Lord’s advent is plainly treated of, which is signified by “reviving in the midst of the years,” and by “making known in the midst of the years.” His Divine Human is described by “God coming from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” He is said to “come from Teman” as to celestial love, and “from Mount Paran” as to spiritual love; and that illumination and power are from these is signified by saying that there shall be “brightness and light,” and by His having “horns going out from His hand;” the “brightness and light” are illumination, and the “horns” are power.

[2] In Moses:

Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the ten thousands of holiness; from His right hand was a fire of law unto them; yea, He loveth the peoples; all His saints are in thy hand, and they were gathered together at thy foot, and he shall receive of thy words (Deuteronomy 33:2-3).

Here also the Lord is treated of, whose Divine Human is described by His “rising from Seir, and shining forth from Mount Paran”—from “Seir” as to celestial love, and from “Mount Paran” as to spiritual love. The spiritual are signified by the “peoples whom He loves,” and by their being “gathered together at His foot.” The “foot” signifies what is lower, and thus more obscure, in the Lord’s kingdom.

[3] In the same:

Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him smote the Horites in their Mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is in the wilderness (Genesis 14:5-6).

That the Lord’s Divine Human is here signified by “Mount Seir,” and by “El-paran,” may be seen above (n. 1675, 1676). In the same:

It came to pass in the second year, in the second month, in the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony and the sons of Israel set forward according to their journeys, out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran (Numbers 10:11-12).

[4] That the journeys of the people in the wilderness all signify the state of a combating church and its temptations, in which man yields but the Lord conquers for him-consequently the very temptations and victories of the Lord-will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown elsewhere; and because the Lord from His Divine Human sustained temptations, the Lord’s Divine Human is here signified in like manner by the “wilderness of Paran.” And so again by these words in the same:

The people afterwards journeyed from Hazeroth, and pitched their camp in the wilderness of Paran. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, and let them explore the land of Canaan, which I give unto the sons of Israel; and Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of Jehovah. And they returned, and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and showed them the fruit of the land (Numbers 12:16; 13:1-3, 26).

[5] By their setting out from the wilderness of Paran and exploring the land of Canaan, is signified that through the Lord’s Divine Human the sons of Israel, that is, the spiritual, have the heavenly kingdom, which is signified by the land of Canaan; but their also succumbing at that time signifies their weakness, and that the Lord therefore fulfilled all things in the Law, and endured temptations, and conquered; and that they who are in the faith of charity, as also they who are in temptations in which the Lord conquers, have salvation from His Divine Human. On which account also, when the Lord was tempted, He was in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1; see above, n. 2708).

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

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