De Bijbel

 

1 Mosebok 22

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1 Nogen tid derefter satte Gud Abraham på prøve, og han sa til ham: Abraham! Og han svarte: Ja, her er jeg.

2 Da sa han: Ta din sønn, din eneste, ham som du har så kjær, Isak, og gå til Moria land og ofre ham der til brennoffer på et av fjellene, som jeg skal si dig!

3 Så stod Abraham tidlig op om morgenen og lesste på sitt asen og tok to av sine drenger med sig og Isak, sin sønn; han kløvde ved til brennofferet og gav sig på veien til det sted Gud hadde sagt ham.

4 På den tredje dag, da Abraham så sig omkring, fikk han øie på stedet langt borte.

5 Da sa Abraham til sine drenger: Bli I her med asenet! Jeg og gutten, vi vil gå dit bort og bede og så komme tilbake til eder.

6 Så tok Abraham veden til brennofferet og la den på Isak, sin sønn, og selv tok han ilden og kniven i sin hånd; og så gikk de begge sammen.

7 Da talte Isak til Abraham, sin far, og sa: Du far! Han svarte: Ja, min sønn! Han sa: Se, her er ilden og veden, men hvor er lammet til brennofferet?

8 Abraham svarte: Gud skal selv utse sig lammet til brennofferet, min sønn! Så gikk de begge sammen.

9 Og da de kom til det sted Gud hadde sagt ham, bygget Abraham et alter der og la veden til rette; så bandt han Isak, sin sønn, og la ham på alteret ovenpå veden.

10 Og Abraham rakte ut hånden og tok kniven for å ofre sin sønn.

11 Da ropte Herrens engel til ham fra himmelen og sa: Abraham, Abraham! - Han svarte: Ja, her er jeg.

12 Da sa han: Legg ikke hånd på gutten og gjør ham ikke noget! For nu vet jeg at du frykter Gud, siden du ikke har spart din eneste sønn for min skyld.

13 Da nu Abraham så op, fikk han se en vær bakenfor sig, som hang fast i buskene med sine horn; og Abraham gikk bort og tok væren og ofret den til brennoffer istedenfor sin sønn.

14 Og Abraham kalte dette sted: Herren ser. Derfor sier folk den dag idag: På Herrens berg skal han la sig se.

15 Og Herrens engel ropte ennu en gang til Abraham fra himmelen

16 og sa: Ved mig selv sverger jeg, sier Herren: Fordi du gjorde dette og ikke sparte din eneste sønn,

17 så vil jeg storlig velsigne dig og gjøre din ætt såre tallrik, som stjernene på himmelen og som sanden på havets bredd, og din ætt skal ta sine fienders porter i eie;

18 og i din ætt skal alle jordens folk velsignes, fordi du lød mitt ord.

19 Så gikk Abraham tilbake til sine drenger, og de brøt op og drog sammen til Be'erseba; og Abraham blev boende i Be'erseba.

20 Nogen tid derefter kom det nogen og sa til Abraham: Din bror Nakor og Milka har også fått sønner:

21 Us, den eldste, og Bus, hans bror, og Kemuel, far til Aram,

22 og Kesed og Haso og Pildas og Jidlaf og Betuel.

23 Og Betuel var far til ebekka. Disse åtte barn fikk Nakor, Abrahams bror, med Milka.

24 Også hans medhustru, som hette e'uma, fikk barn: Tebah og Gaham og Tahas og Ma'aka.

   

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #2669

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2669. 'Also, the son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation' means the spiritual Church which was to receive the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son of the servant-girl' and also of 'a nation'. 'The son of the servant-girl' or Ishmael, while he was in Abraham's house, that is, while he was with Abraham, represented the Lord's first rational, as shown in 2652, 2653, 2657, 2658. But now he has been separated he takes on another representation, namely that of the spiritual Church, 2666. A similar change of representation occurred previously with Lot who while with Abraham represented the Lord's external man, 1428, 1429, 1434, 1547, 1597, 1598, 1698, but once he had been separated from Abraham he represented the external Church and many states of that Church, 2324, 2371, 2399, 2422, 2459, and in the whole of Chapter 19. As regards 'nation' meaning good, see 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849. Here the good of faith is meant since it has reference to the spiritual Church. Hence the words used here, 'Also, the son of the servant-girl I will make into a nation', mean the spiritual Church which was to receive the good of faith, which is charity.

[2] The Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth is celestial and spiritual, and therefore angels are distinguished into those who are celestial and those who are spiritual, see 202, 337. To celestial angels the Lord appears as the Sun, to spiritual as the Moon, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531. Men in a similar way are distinguished into those who are celestial and those who are spiritual. Those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood were celestial, dealt with in 607, 608, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1125, while those who belonged to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood were spiritual, dealt with in 609, 640, 641, 765. For what the difference was between those two Churches, see 567, 607, and for what the difference is between what is celestial and what is spiritual, 81, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2069, 2088, 2227, 2507. The celestial are referred to by the Lord in the following,

He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He has led out His own sheep He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.

The spiritual however are referred to in these words,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:3-4, 16.

The good of love is that which constitutes the celestial Church, but the good of faith that which constitutes the spiritual Church. The truth of faith does not constitute the Church but leads into it.

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

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #608

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608. When internal breathing came to an end, external breathing practically the same as that today gradually took its place. And with external breathing came vocal speech or articulated sounds, which encapsulated the ideas comprising thought. In this way man's state was changed completely, and he became such as to be incapable any longer of possessing perception of that kind. Instead of perception he had a different kind of dictate, which may be called conscience, for though similar to conscience, it was in fact something half-way between perception and conscience as some people know it today. And once such an encapsulation of the ideas comprising thought had taken place, that is to say, within vocal speech, people could not be taught any longer by way of the internal man, as the most ancient people had been, but by way of the external. Consequently the revelations that the Most Ancient Church received were succeeded by matters of doctrine which had first of all to be apprehended by the external senses. These would produce material ideas in the memory, from which the ideas comprising thought were formed, such ideas being the means by which they were taught. Consequently the mental constitution of this Church was altogether different from that of the Most Ancient Church which it succeeded. And unless the Lord had brought the human race into that mental disposition or condition nobody at all could possibly have been saved.

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