The Bible

 

Genesis 20

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1 Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar.

2 Abraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife."

4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?

5 Didn't he tell me, 'She is my sister?' She, even she herself, said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this."

6 God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to touch her.

7 Now therefore, restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don't restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours."

8 Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!"

10 Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you have done this thing?"

11 Abraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife's sake.'

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

13 It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"

14 Abimelech took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah, his wife, to him.

15 Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you."

16 To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated."

17 Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children.

18 For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2551

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2551. What sawest thou that thou hast done this word? That this signifies a looking into the cause, is evident without explication; as well as from what follows, where the cause is stated. The reason of there being thus presented in regular order, in the internal sense, how the Lord perceived and thought concerning the doctrine of faith, and concerning the rational as to whether it should be consulted, is that it is angelic to think of these things in such a series. The internal sense of the Word is especially for the angels; and therefore is adapted to their perceptions and thoughts. They are in their delightful, nay, in their blessed and happy states, when they are thinking about the Lord, His Divine and His Human, and how the Human was made Divine; for they are encompassed with a celestial and spiritual sphere which is full of the Lord; so that it may be said that they are in the Lord. Hence nothing is more blessed and happy to them than to think in accordance with the things that belong to that sphere and its derivative affection.

[2] At the same time, moreover, they are instructed and perfected, especially in this: how the Lord by degrees and of His own power, as He grew up, made Divine the human into which He was born; and thus how, by means of the knowledges that He revealed to Himself He perfected His rational, dispersed by successive steps its shadows, and introduced it into Divine light. These and innumerable other things are presented before the angels in a celestial and spiritual manner, with a thousand and a thousand representatives, in the light of life, when the Word is being read. But these things, which are so precious to the angels, are to men as of no importance, because above their comprehension, and thus in the shade of their understanding; and on the other hand, the things that are precious to men, such as those which contain within them worldly matters, are of no importance to the angels, because below their state and thus in the shade of their wisdom. Thus, wonderful to say, the things that come to shade with man, and almost into contempt, with the angels pass into light, and into their affection, as is the case with many things of the internal sense of the Word.

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