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Genesis 22

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1 It happened after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

2 He said, "Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of."

3 Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off.

5 Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you."

6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.

7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

8 Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together.

9 They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.

10 Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.

11 The angel of Yahweh called to him out of the sky, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

12 He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

14 Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, "On Yahweh's mountain, it will be provided."

15 The angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time out of the sky,

16 and said, "I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies.

18 In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.

20 It happened after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, "Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."

23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #2796

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2796. As regards the putting on of the various states by the Lord which is here treated of, they cannot but be unknown to man, because he never reflects on his changes of state; which are nevertheless going on continually, both as to what is of the understanding or the thoughts, and as to what is of the will or the affections. The reason of his not reflecting upon them is that he believes that all things in him follow in natural order, and that there is nothing higher which directs; whereas the case is that all things are disposed by means of the spirits and angels with him; and all his states and changes of states are therefrom, and are thus to eternity directed by the Lord to ends which the Lord alone foresees. That the reality is so, has become most fully known to me now by the experience of many years. It has also been given me to know and observe what spirits and angels were with me, and what states they induced; and this I can solemnly assert -- that all states, even to the least particulars, come from this source and are thereby directed by the Lord. It has also been given to know and observe that in every state there are a great many others, which do not appear, and which together appear as one general state; and that these states are disposed in relation to the states which follow in order in their series. With a man these things are done by the Lord; but with the Lord Himself, when He lived in the world, they were done by Himself; because He was Divine, and the very being of His life was Jehovah.

[2] The changes of state with man as to what is of the understanding and as to what is of the will, and the order in which they follow on, as also the series through which they pass, and thus how they are bent by the Lord as far as possible to good, it belongs to the angels to know. The wisdom of the angels is such that they perceive all these things most minutely. Hence it is that these things which are revealed in the internal sense concerning the changes of state with the Lord, are clearly and distinctly perceivable by the angels, because they are in the light of heaven from the Lord; and they are also in some degree intelligible to a man who lives in simple good; but they are merely obscure and as nothing to those who are in evil, and also to those who are in the deliriums of wisdom; for these have obscured and extinguished their natural and rational light by many things which have induced darkness, however much they may believe that they are preeminently in light.

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