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Genesis 21

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1 And Jehovah visited Sarah, as He had said; and Jehovah did to Sarah as He had spoken.

2 And Sarah conceived and gave·​·birth·​·to a son for Abraham for his old·​·age, at the appointed·​·time, of which God had spoken with him.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, to whom Sarah gave·​·birth for him, Isaac.

4 And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son, a son of eight days, as God had commanded him.

5 And Abraham was a son of a hundred years when Isaac his son was·​·born to him.

6 And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me, everyone that hears will laugh with me.

7 And she said, Who would have stated to Abraham, Sarah shall nurse sons? For I have given·​·birth to a son for his old·​·age.

8 And the child was growing·​·up, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast, on the day when Isaac was weaned.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking*.

10 And she said to Abraham, Drive·​·out this maidservant and her son; for the son of this maidservant shall not possess with my son, with Isaac.

11 And the word was· exceedingly ·evil in the eyes of Abraham, on account of his son.

12 And God said to Abraham, Let it not be·​·evil in thine eyes on·​·account·​·of the lad, and on·​·account·​·of thy maidservant; all that Sarah says to thee, hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13 And also the son of the maidservant I will set for a nation, because he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose·​·early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave them to Hagar, and set them on her shoulder, and the child, and sent· her ·away; and she went and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 And the water was·​·all·​·gone from the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went and sat by herself, withdrawing herself a distance of about a bowshot from his presence; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child; and she sat away from his presence; and she lifted up her voice, and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out·​·of the heavens, and said to her, What ails thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad, where he is.

18 Arise, lift the lad, and make· thy hand ·firm with him, for I will set him for a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave· the lad ·drink.

20 And God was with the lad, and he was growing·​·up, and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became a shooter of the bow.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.

22 And it was at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the commander of his army said to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou art doing.

23 And now promise to me here by God, that thou wilt not do·​·falsely to me, nor to my son, nor to my grandson; according·​·to the mercy that I have done with thee, thou shalt do with·​·me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.

24 And Abraham said, I will promise.

25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech, on account of the well of waters which Abimelech’s servants had taken·​·by·​·robbery.

26 And Abimelech said, I know not who has done this thing, and even thou didst not tell me, and even I did not hear of it, until today.

27 And Abraham took flock and herd, and gave to Abimelech, and the two of them cut a covenant.

28 And Abraham stood seven ewe-lambs of the flock by·​·themselves.

29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What are these seven ewe-lambs, these which thou hast stood by themselves?

30 And he said, For these seven ewe-lambs thou shalt take from my hand, so·​·that it may be a testimony for me that I have dug this well.

31 Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba*, for there the two of them promised.

32 And they cut a covenant in Beer-sheba; and Abimelech arose, and Phichol the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 And he planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Jehovah, the God of eternity.

34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 2713

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2713. That 'a wilderness' means that which is obscure in comparison is clear from the meaning of 'a wilderness' as that which is obscure, when it has reference to the spiritual man in comparison with the celestial man, dealt with above in 2708.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2454

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2454. That 'his wife looked back behind him' means that truth turned away from good and looked towards matters of doctrine is clear from the meaning of 'looking back behind him' and from the meaning of 'a wife'. Looking back behind him means looking towards matters of doctrine, which have a relationship with truth, and not towards life in accordance with them, which has a relationship with good, as stated above in 2417. That which is secondary is referred to as 'behind him' and that which is primary as 'before him'. The fact that truth is secondary and good primary has been shown quite often. For truth belongs to good, since the essence and life of truth is good. 'Looking behind him' therefore means looking towards truth which constitutes doctrinal teaching, and not towards good which constitutes life in accordance with doctrinal teaching. That these points are what is meant becomes quite clear from the Lord's words, where also, referring to the final period of the Church or close of the age, He says in Luke,

On that day, whoever will be on the housetop with his vessels in the house, let him not come down to take them away; and whoever is in the field, let him likewise not turn back to behind him. Remember Lot's wife. Luke 17:31-32.

[2] These words of the Lord are by no means intelligible without the internal sense, and so are unintelligible unless one knows what is meant by 'being on the housetop', by 'vessels in the house', by 'coming down to take them away', by 'the field', and lastly by 'turning back to behind him'. According to the internal sense 'being on the housetop' means resting on good; for 'a house' means good, see 710, 2231, 2233. 'Vessels in the house' means truths which belong to good; for truths are the vessels for good, see 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2269. 'Going down to take them away' means, as is evident, turning away from good towards truth, for since good is primary it is also higher, while truth, being secondary, is also lower. That 'the field' is the Church, so called from the seed which it receives, and consequently that those people are 'fields' in whom there is the good taught by doctrine, is clear from many places in the Word. These considerations show what 'turning back to behind him' means, namely turning away from good and looking towards matters of doctrine. And it is because these things are meant by the expression 'Lot's wife', that 'remember Lot's wife' is added. The reason it is not said that she looked 'behind herself' but 'behind him' is that 'Lot' means good, see 2324, 2351, 2371, 2399. This explains why, when Lot was told what to do, verse 17, the words used were, 'Do not look back behind you'.

[3] The reason why in Luke it is said 'let him not turn back to behind him' and not 'to the things behind him' is that celestial people are unwilling even to mention anything that is a matter of doctrine, see 202, 337. This is why no such thing is mentioned in Luke, only the words 'to behind him'.

[4] These same matters are described in Matthew as follows,

When you see the abomination of desolation, foretold by the prophet Daniel, then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything away out of his house; and let him who is in the field not return back to take his clothes. Matthew 24:15-17.

Here 'the abomination of desolation' is the state of the Church when there is no love and no charity. When these have been destroyed abominable things predominate. 'Judea' means the Church, and in particular the celestial Church, as is evident from both the historical and prophetical sections throughout the Old Testament Word, while 'the mountains into which they were to flee' means love to the Lord and consequent charity towards the neighbour, see 795, 1430, 1691. 'He who is on the housetop' means good flowing from love, as stated just above. 'Going down to take anything away out of his house' means turning away from good towards truth, as has also been stated above, while 'he who is in the field' means members of the spiritual Church, as is evident from the meaning of 'field' in the Word. 'Let him not return back to take his clothes' means not turning away from good towards truth that constitutes doctrinal teaching - 'clothes' meaning truths, for truths clothe good like garments, see 1073. Anyone may see that all those things which the Lord has said in that section about the close of the age mean things altogether different and embody arcana, such as that those in Judea were to flee into the mountains, that the one on the housetop was not to go down and bring anything out of the house, and that the one in the field was not to return back to take his clothes. Similar to this is the statement in verse 17 that Lot was not to look back behind him, and that made here that his wife did look back behind him and became a pillar of salt. In addition this matter is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as truth, dealt with in 915, 1468, and from the meaning of 'Lot' as good, dealt with in 2324, 2351, 2371, 2399; hence the words 'after him'.

[5] Truth is said to turn away from good and look towards matters of doctrine when the member of the Church no longer takes to heart what kind of life he leads, only what kind of doctrine he possesses. Yet it is life according to doctrine, not doctrine separate from life, that makes anyone a member of the Church; for when doctrine is separated from life, then because good, in which life consists, has been vastated, truth as well, in which doctrine consists, is vastated, that is, it becomes 'a pillar of salt'. This is something anyone who looks to doctrine alone and not to life may know, by considering whether, even though doctrine teaches such things, he in fact believes in the resurrection, heaven, hell, and indeed the Lord, and so in everything else which doctrine teaches.

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