The Bible

 

Genesis 12

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1 And Jehovah saith unto Abram, `Go for thyself, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from the house of thy father, unto the land which I shew thee.

2 And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.

3 And I bless those blessing thee, and him who is disesteeming thee I curse, and blessed in thee have been all families of the ground.'

4 And Abram goeth on, as Jehovah hath spoken unto him, and Lot goeth with him, and Abram [is] a son of five and seventy years in his going out from Charan.

5 And Abram taketh Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they have gained, and the persons that they have obtained in Charan; and they go out to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come in to the land of Canaan.

6 And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite [is] then in the land.

7 And Jehovah appeareth unto Abram, and saith, `To thy seed I give this land;' and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, who hath appeared unto him.

8 And he removeth from thence towards a mountain at the east of Beth-El, and stretcheth out the tent (Beth-El at the west, and Hai at the east), and he buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, and preacheth in the name of Jehovah.

9 And Abram journeyeth, going on and journeying towards the south.

10 And there is a famine in the land, and Abram goeth down towards Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine [is] grievous in the land;

11 and it cometh to pass as he hath drawn near to enter Egypt, that he saith unto Sarai his wife, `Lo, I pray thee, I have known that thou [art] a woman of beautiful appearance;

12 and it hath come to pass that the Egyptians see thee, and they have said, `This [is] his wife,' and they have slain me, and thee they keep alive:

13 say, I pray thee, thou [art] my sister, so that it is well with me because of thee, and my soul hath lived for thy sake.'

14 And it cometh to pass, at the entering of Abram into Egypt, that the Egyptians see the woman that she [is] exceeding fair;

15 and princes of Pharaoh see her, and praise her unto Pharaoh, and the woman is taken [to] Pharaoh's house;

16 and to Abram he hath done good because of her, and he hath sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and handmaids, and she-asses, and camels.

17 And Jehovah plagueth Pharaoh and his house -- great plagues -- for the matter of Sarai, Abram's wife.

18 And Pharaoh calleth for Abram, and saith, `What [is] this thou hast done to me? why hast thou not declared to me that she [is] thy wife?

19 Why hast thou said, She [is] my sister, and I take her to myself for a wife? and now, lo, thy wife, take and go.'

20 And Pharaoh chargeth men concerning him, and they send him away, and his wife, an all that he hath.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1502

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1502. From all this it is now evident that Abram’s sojourn in Egypt represents and signifies nothing else than the Lord, and in fact His instruction in childhood. This is also confirmed by what is said in Hosea:

Out of Egypt have I called My son (Hos. 11:1; Matthew 2:15);

and again from what is said in Moses:

The dwelling of the sons of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was thirty years and four hundred years; and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass on the selfsame day, that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:40-41);

which years were not reckoned from Jacob’s going down into Egypt, but from the sojourning of Abram in Egypt, counting from which the years were four hundred and thirty. Thus by the “son out of Egypt” (in Hosea 11:1) in the internal sense is signified the Lord. This is further confirmed by the fact that in the Word “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge (as shown, n. 1164, 1165, 1462).

[2] And that these arcana are contained is also evident from the fact that the same is said of Abram during his sojourn in Philistia, namely, that he called his wife his sister (Genesis 20:1-18); and similar things are said of Isaac when he also was sojourning in Philistia, in that he too called his wife his sister (Genesis 26:6-13). These things would not have been related in the Word, and with almost the same circumstances, unless these arcana had been concealed within them. Moreover this is the Word of the Lord, which can in no wise have any life, unless there is an internal sense that has regard to Him.

[3] The arcana which lie stored up in these things, as also in those said concerning Abram and Isaac in Philistia, are-how the Lord’s Human Essence was conjoined with His Divine Essence, or what is the same, how the Lord became Jehovah as to His Human Essence also; and that His inauguration went on from childhood, which inauguration is here treated of. Moreover these things also involve more arcana than man can ever believe; but those which can be told are so few as to be almost nothing. Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord, they also involve arcana concerning the instruction and regeneration of man, that he may become celestial; as also concerning his instruction and regeneration, that he may become spiritual; and not only concerning the instruction of the individual man, but also concerning that of the church in general. And, further, they involve arcana concerning the instruction of little children in heaven; in a word, concerning the instruction of all who become images and likenesses of the Lord. These things do not at all appear in the sense of the letter, for the reason that the historical narrative veils them over and obscures them; but they appear in the internal sense.

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