The Bible

 

Genesis 21

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1 And Jehovah hath looked after Sarah as He hath said, and Jehovah doth to Sarah as He hath spoken;

2 and Sarah conceiveth, and beareth a son to Abraham, to his old age, at the appointed time that God hath spoken of with him;

3 and Abraham calleth the name of his son who is born to him, whom Sarah hath born to him -- Isaac;

4 and Abraham circumciseth Isaac his son, [being] a son of eight days, as God hath commanded him.

5 And Abraham [is] a son of a hundred years in Isaac his son being born to him,

6 and Sarah saith, `God hath made laughter for me; every one who is hearing laugheth for me.'

7 She saith also, `Who hath said to Abraham, Sarah hath suckled sons, that I have born a son for his old age?'

8 And the lad groweth, and is weaned, and Abraham maketh a great banquet in the day of Isaac's being weaned;

9 and Sarah seeth the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she hath borne to Abraham, mocking,

10 and she saith to Abraham, `Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid hath no possession with my son -- with Isaac.'

11 And the thing is very wrong in the eyes of Abraham, for his son's sake;

12 and God saith unto Abraham, `Let it not be wrong in thine eyes because of the youth, and because of thy handmaid: all that Sarah saith unto thee -- hearken to her voice, for in Isaac is a seed called to thee.

13 As to the son of the handmaid also, for a nation I set him, because he [is] thy seed.'

14 And Abraham riseth early in the morning, and taketh bread, and a bottle of water, and giveth unto Hagar (placing [it] on her shoulder), also the lad, and sendeth her out; and she goeth on, and goeth astray in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba;

15 and the water is consumed from the bottle, and she placeth the lad under one of the shrubs.

16 And she goeth and sitteth by herself over-against, afar off, about a bow-shot, for she said, `Let me not look on the death of the lad;' and she sitteth over-against, and lifteth up her voice, and weepeth.

17 And God heareth the voice of the youth; and the messenger of God calleth unto Hagar from the heavens, and saith to her, `What to thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath hearkened unto the voice of the youth where he [is];

18 rise, lift up the youth, and lay hold on him with thy hand, for for a great nation I set him.'

19 And God openeth her eyes, and she seeth a well of water, and she goeth and filleth the bottle [with] water, and causeth the youth to drink;

20 and God is with the youth, and he groweth, and dwelleth in the wilderness, and is an archer;

21 and he dwelleth in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother taketh for him a wife from the land of Egypt.

22 And it cometh to pass at that time that Abimelech speaketh -- Phichol also, head of his host -- unto Abraham, saying, `God [is] with thee in all that thou art doing;

23 and now, swear to me by God here: thou dost not lie to me, or to my continuator, or to my successor; according to the kindness which I have done with thee thou dost with me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.'

24 And Abraham saith, `I -- I do swear.'

25 And Abraham reasoned with Abimelech concerning the matter of a well of water which Abimelech's servants have taken violently away,

26 and Abimelech saith, `I have not known who hath done this thing, and even thou didst not declare to me, and I also, I have not heard save to-day.'

27 And Abraham taketh sheep and oxen, and giveth to Abimelech, and they make, both of them, a covenant;

28 and Abraham setteth seven Lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 And Abimelech saith unto Abraham, `What [are] they -- these seven lambs which thou hast set by themselves?'

30 And he saith, `For -- the seven lambs thou dost accept from my hand, so that it becometh a witness for me that I have digged this well;'

31 therefore hath he called that place `Beer-Sheba,' for there have both of them sworn.

32 And they make a covenant in Beer-Sheba, and Abimelech riseth -- Phichol also, head of his host -- and they turn back unto the land of the Philistines;

33 and [Abraham] planteth a tamarask in Beer-Sheba, and preacheth there in the name of Jehovah, God age-during;

34 and Abraham sojourneth in the land of the Philistines many days.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2636

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2636. 'Abraham was a son a hundred years old' means a complete state of union. This is clear from the meaning of 'a hundred' as that which is complete, dealt with immediately below, and from the meaning of 'years' as state, dealt with in 482, 487, 488, 493, 893, here a state of union. What a complete state is of the Lord's Divine united to His Human, or what amounts to the same, united to the Rational - for the human has its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, 2106, 2194 - is not easy to express in a way that can be understood, though it can nevertheless be illustrated by the things which with man are called a complete state when he is being reformed and regenerated.

[2] It is well known that a person cannot be regenerated except in adult years, for not until then is he able to exercise reason and judgement and in so doing to receive good and truth from the Lord. Before entering that state he is being prepared by the Lord through the implantation of such things as can serve him as the soil for receiving the seeds of truth and good. Implanted thus are many states of innocence and charity, also cognitions of good and truth, and consequently thoughts. This implantation occurs during many years before his regeneration takes place. When a person has been endowed with these things and so has been prepared, his state is now said to be complete, for the things that are interior have been arranged ready to receive. All those things with a person which the Lord grants him prior to regeneration and by means of which he is regenerated are called remnants, which in the Word are meant by the number ten, 576, 1738, 2284, and also by a hundred when the state for regeneration is complete, 1988.

[3] These things that are so with man may serve to illustrate what is meant by a complete state of the Human united to the Divine in the Lord. That is to say, they may illustrate the state when the Lord by His own power - through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories, and through the powers of Divine wisdom and intelligence - gathered to Himself within the Human, that is, within the Rational, so much of the Divine that He was able to unite the Divine itself to the Divine acquired within the Rational. And it was to represent this state that, even though Abraham had spent many years in the land of Canaan, Isaac was not born to him until he was a hundred years old. These are the arcana contained within the number 'a hundred years', which was Abraham's age.

[4] That the number 'a hundred' means that which is complete may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

No more will there be from it an infant of days, nor an old man who has not completed his days, for the child will die a son a hundred years old, and the sinner a son a hundred years old will be accursed. Isaiah 65:20.

Here 'a hundred' clearly stands for that which is complete, for it is said, 'No more will there be an infant of days, nor an old man who has not completed his days', and, a child and a sinner will be 'a hundred years old', that is, a time when his state is complete.

[5] In Matthew,

Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29-30.

Here 'a hundredfold' stands for that which is complete, otherwise described as 'good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over', in Luke 6:38.

[6] In Luke,

Some seed fell on good ground, and when it had grown up it brought forth fruit a hundredfold. Luke 8:8; Matthew 13:8, 23; Mark 4:20.

Here also 'a hundred' stands for that which is complete, a number which would not have been mentioned unless it had had that meaning. A similar meaning exists in the parable about the debtors, where the Lord says that one owed a hundred baths of oil and the other a hundred cors of wheat, Luke 16:5-7. The same applies in other places where a hundred is mentioned. It is similar with a thousand, regarding which number, see 2575.

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