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Genesis 14

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1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.

7 And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.

8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;

9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

12 And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eschol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

19 And he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

   

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #1803

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1803. 'But he who comes out of your own loins' means those in whom love to Him and love towards the neighbour are present. This is clear from the meaning of 'the loins', and of 'going out of the loins' as being born, here those who are being born from the Lord. People who are being born from the Lord, that is, being regenerated by Him, are receiving the Lord's life. As has been stated, the Lord's life is Divine love, that is, a love towards the entire human race, which love is such that His will is to bring eternal salvation, if possible, to the whole of it, that is, to all men. People who do not possess the Lord's love, that is, who do not love their neighbour as themselves, in no sense possess the Lord's life, and so are not in any sense born from Him, that is, they have not 'come out of His loins', and consequently cannot be heirs of His kingdom.

[2] From these considerations it is clear that 'going out of the loins' here means in the internal sense people in whom love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour are present, as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God, teaching you to profit, making you go in the way you should walk. O that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; and your seed would have been like the sand, and those who have gone out of your loins like its grains. Isaiah 48:17-19.

'Seed like the sand' stands for good, 'those who have gone out of your loins like its grains' for truth. Thus it stands for people in whom love is present, for with them alone does a love of good and truth exist.

[3] In addition the loins in the Word also mean love or mercy, the reason being that the generative organs, especially the mother's womb, represent and so mean chaste conjugial love and the love of children which is derived from that love, as in Isaiah,

The yearning of Your loins and of Your compassion 1 towards me have held themselves back. Isaiah 63:15.

In Jeremiah,

Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me? Is he not a delightful child? Therefore My loins are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy on him. Jeremiah 31:20.

[4] From this it is clear that love itself, or the Lord's mercy itself and compassion towards the human race, are what the internal sense means by 'the loins', and by 'going out of the loins'. Consequently 'those who have gone out of the loins' means people in whom love is present. Concerning the Lord's kingdom as mutual love, see what has appeared already in 548, 549, 684, 693, 694

Voetnoten:

1. literally, compassions

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

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #694

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694. Just as heaven, deriving as it does from the Lord, constitutes through mutual love one human being and one soul so to speak, and consequently has one end in view, which is to preserve and save all men eternally, so conversely does hell, deriving as it does from the proprium, constitute through self-love and love of the world, that is, through hatred, one devil and one frame of mind (animus), and consequently has one end in view, which is to destroy and condemn all men eternally. That this is the nature of their endeavours I have perceived thousands and thousands of times. Unless therefore the Lord were preserving everybody in every fraction of a moment, man would perish.

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