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Genesis 25

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1 And Abraham addeth and taketh a wife, and her name [is] Keturah;

2 and she beareth to him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 And Jokshan hath begotten Sheba and Dedan; and the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim;

4 and the sons of Midian [are] Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah: all these [are] sons of Keturah.

5 And Abraham giveth all that he hath to Isaac;

6 and to the sons of the concubines whom Abraham hath, Abraham hath given gifts, and sendeth them away from Isaac his son (in his being yet alive) eastward, unto the east country.

7 And these [are] the days of the years of the life of Abraham, which he lived, a hundred and seventy and five years;

8 and Abraham expireth, and dieth in a good old age, aged and satisfied, and is gathered unto his people.

9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons bury him at the cave of Machpelah, at the field of Ephron, son of Zoar the Hittite, which [is] before Mamre --

10 the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth -- there hath Abraham been buried, and Sarah his wife.

11 And it cometh to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blesseth Isaac his son; and Isaac dwelleth by the Well of the Living One, my Beholder.

12 And these [are] births of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, hath borne to Abraham;

13 and these [are] the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their births: first-born of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

16 these are sons of Ishmael, and these their names, by their villages, and by their towers; twelve princes according to their peoples.

17 And these [are] the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred and thirty and seven years; and he expireth, and dieth, and is gathered unto his people;

18 and they tabernacle from Havilah unto Shur, which [is] before Egypt, in [thy] going towards Asshur; in the presence of all his brethren hath he fallen.

19 And these [are] births of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham hath begotten Isaac;

20 and Isaac is a son of forty years in his taking Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean, from Padan-Aram, sister of Laban the Aramaean, to him for a wife.

21 And Isaac maketh entreaty to Jehovah before his wife, for she [is] barren: and Jehovah is entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceiveth,

22 and the children struggle together within her, and she saith, `If [it is] right -- why [am] I thus?' and she goeth to seek Jehovah.

23 And Jehovah saith to her, `Two nations [are] in thy womb, and Two peoples from thy bowels are parted; and the [one] people than the [other] people is stronger; and the elder doth serve the younger.'

24 And her days to bear are fulfilled, and lo, twins [are] in her womb;

25 and the first cometh out all red as a hairy robe, and they call his name Esau;

26 and afterwards hath his brother come out, and his hand is taking hold on Esau's heel, and one calleth his name Jacob; and Isaac [is] a son of sixty years in her bearing them.

27 And the youths grew, and Esau is a man acquainted [with] hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob [is] a plain man, inhabiting tents;

28 and Isaac loveth Esau, for [his] hunting [is] in his mouth; and Rebekah is loving Jacob.

29 And Jacob boileth pottage, and Esau cometh in from the field, and he [is] weary;

30 and Esau saith unto Jacob, `Let me eat, I pray thee, some of this red red thing, for I [am] weary;' therefore hath [one] called his name Edom [Red];

31 and Jacob saith, `Sell to-day thy birthright to me.'

32 And Esau saith, `Lo, I am going to die, and what is this to me -- birthright?'

33 and Jacob saith, `Swear to me to-day:' and he sweareth to him, and selleth his birthright to Jacob;

34 and Jacob hath given to Esau bread and pottage of lentiles, and he eateth, and drinketh, and riseth, and goeth; and Esau despiseth the birthright.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #3242

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3242. And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. That this signifies the derivations from the third class, can be seen from the representation of Midian, as being those who are in the truth of faith (concerning which below); and as those who are in the truth of faith are “Midian,” it follows that his “sons” are the derivations therefrom. With those who are in the truth of faith the case is this: No one is admitted into the Lord’s kingdom unless he is in the good of faith, for the good of faith is of the life, and the life of faith remains, but not the doctrine of faith, except insofar as it makes one with the life; nevertheless they who are in the truth of faith (that is, who profess faith and call it essential, because they have so learned) and yet are in the good of life (that is, who are Christians in heart and not in profession only), are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. For anyone may easily be persuaded that faith is the essential when he has been so taught by his instructors and has imbibed this opinion in his childhood, and because they who are reputed most learned and the heads of the church say so, some of whom are afraid to speak of the good of life because their life condemns them; moreover the things that belong to faith flow in perceptibly, but not so those which belong to charity.

[2] They therefore who are in the truth of faith and yet in the good of life, are they who are called Midian;” and the truths according to which they live are the “sons of Midian;” and as those who are in the truth of faith conjoined with its good are “Midian,” so also in the opposite sense are those who are in falsity from not having the good of life, as can be seen from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

The abundance of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah (Isaiah 60:6); where the Lord’s spiritual kingdom is treated of. The “dromedaries of Midian and Ephah” denote doctrinal things; doctrinal things of good are “gold;” those of truth are “frankincense;” both are the “praises of Jehovah;” hence also it is manifest what “Ephah” signifies. (That by the “Midianites” who drew Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites, and into Egypt to Potiphar, Genesis 37:28, 36, are signified those who are in the truth of simple good, will be seen, of the Lord’s Divine mercy, in the explication of these verses hereafter.)

[3] That by “Midian” are also signified those who are in falsity because they have not the goods of life, can be seen from what is said concerning Midian in Moses:

The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, with the rewards of divination in their hand, went to Balaam, and spake to him the words of Balak (Numbers 22:4, 7, etc.).

In a good sense “Moab” denotes those who are in natural good and suffer themselves to be easily led astray; but in the opposite sense, those who adulterate goods (n. 2468). In a good sense “Midian” denotes those who are in the truth of simple good, as before said, and who thus allow themselves to be easily persuaded; in the opposite sense, as here, those who falsify truths. The falsifications are signified by “the rewards of divination in their hand;” and the deeds from these falsities, by their sending to Balaam in hostility to the sons of Israel, who denote the goods and derivative truths of faith.

[4] The like was signified by the whoredoms of the sons of Israel with the women of the Midianites, resulting in a plague, which was stayed by Phinehas thrusting his spear through the Midianitish woman and the man of Israel in the brothel (Numbers 25:6-8); for by whoredoms were represented the falsifications of truth (n. 2466, 2729). And because falsifications of truth are what in the internal sense are signified by whoredoms, therefore by command twelve thousand of the sons of Israel smote the Midianites, slew their kings, and every male, and the women whom they had led captive that had known a man, and divided the spoil among themselves (Numbers 25:16-17; 31:1-54 the end). The reason why there were twelve thousand, was that “twelve” signified all things of faith (n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130), by which falsities are destroyed; the “kings” whom they killed are falsities, and so is “every male;” the “women that had known a man” are the affections of falsity; the “spoil” (as gold, silver, cattle) are the truths that were falsified; from all which it is evident that each and all of the things there mentioned are representative of the punishment and destruction of what is false by means of truths.

[5] It is similar in regard to what is said of the Midianites in the book of Judges, namely, that the sons of Israel, because they did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, were given into the hand of Midian seven years; and that the sons of Israel, by reason of Midian, made for themselves caves in the mountains, and also dens, and fortified places; and when Israel had sown, that Midian and Amalek and the sons of the east came up and ravaged the produce of their land; and afterwards that they were delivered by Gideon with three hundred men who lapped water with the tongue like a dog, and that those were sent home who bowed upon the knees and drank, besides other particulars (chapters 6, 7, 8). Here also the things mentioned each and all are representative of the falsification of truth, and of punishment on this account, even to their being destroyed by such things as are signified by lapping water with the tongue like a dog; but what each particular signifies in the internal sense it would be too tedious to unfold here; yet of the Lord’s Divine mercy it shall be told in its place.

In Habakkuk:

He beheld, and dispersed the nations; and the eternal mountains 1 were scattered, the everlasting hills did bow. I saw the tents of Cushan under Aven, the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble (Hab. 3:6-7); where the advent of the Lord is treated of. The “tents of Cushan” denote a religiosity from evil; the “curtains of the land of Midian,” one from falsity.

Footnotes:

1. Literally, “the mountains of time.”

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