The Bible

 

Genesis 12:1-8 : To a land that I will show you

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1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1442

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1442. 'As far as the oak-grove of Moreh' means a first perception. This too becomes clear from the sequence of events. It is clear that as soon as Jehovah appeared to the Lord in His celestial things the Lord had attained perception. Celestial things are the source of all perception. What perception is has been stated and shown already in 104, 202, 371, 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 865. When anyone attains to celestial things he acquires perception from the Lord. All who have become celestial people, such as members of the Most Ancient Church, have acquired perception, as shown already in 125, 597, 607, 784, 895. All who become spiritual people, however, that is, who acquire charity from the Lord, have something akin to perception, namely the voice of conscience, strong or weak, in the measure that the celestial things of charity exist with such persons. This is how it is with the celestial things of charity, for it is in these alone that the Lord is present, and in these that He manifests Himself to man. How much more must this have applied to the Lord, who from infancy moved closer to Jehovah, and was joined and united to Him so that they were one?

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