Arcana Coelestia #3235
3235. 'Abraham took another wife' means a further state which the Lord, whom Abraham represents, passed through - for 'Abraham and Sarah' represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, 'Abraham and Keturah' the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual. This is clear from what has been stated and shown so far about Abraham and his wife Sarah, and from what is recorded here about Abraham and Keturah. But as it is said that Abraham here represents a further state which the Lord passed through, and that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, whereas Abraham and Keturah did so as regards the Divine Spiritual, one needs to know what is meant by the Divine Celestial and by the Divine Spiritual. The Divine Celestial and the Divine Spiritual have to do with those people who receive the Lord's Divine, for the Lord is seen by everyone according to the character of the recipient, as becomes clear from what has been stated in 1838, 1861, and is quite evident from the fact that the Lord appears to celestial people in one way but to spiritual in another. For He appears as the sun to those who are celestial, but as the moon to those who are spiritual, 1529-1531, 1838. The Lord appears to celestial people as the sun because in them celestial love, which is love to the Lord, is present, but to spiritual people as the moon because in these spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour, is present. The difference is like that between the light of the sun during the daytime and the light of the moon at night, and also between the warmth of both which causes things in the ground to grow. These are what were meant in Genesis 1 by the words,
And God made the two great Lights, the greater Light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser Light to have dominion over the night. Genesis 1:16.
[2] The Lord's kingdom is in general celestial and spiritual, that is, it consists of those who are celestial and of those who are spiritual. And because the Lord's Divine appears to those who are celestial as being celestial, but to those who are spiritual as being spiritual, it is therefore said that Abraham and Sarah represented the Lord as regards the Divine Celestial, but Abraham and Keturah as regards the Divine Spiritual. But as scarcely anyone knows what the celestial is or what the spiritual, and who they are who are celestial or spiritual, please see what has been stated and shown about them already in the following places:
What the celestial is and what the spiritual, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2184, 2227, 2507.
Who celestial people are and who spiritual, 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715.
The celestial man is a likeness of the Lord and does good from love, whereas the spiritual man is an image of the Lord and does it from faith, 50-52, 1013.
Those who are celestial perceive truth from good and never indulge in reasoning about it, 202, 337, 607, 895, 1121, 2715.
With the celestial man good is implanted in the will part of his mind, but with the spiritual man in the understanding part, within which, in the case of those who are spiritual, a new will is created, 863, 875, 895, 897, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256.
From good itself those who are celestial see things without limit, but those who are spiritual, because they reason whether a thing is so, cannot reach even the furthest limit to which the light that the celestial have spreads, 2718.
Compared with those who are celestial those who are spiritual dwell in obscurity, 1043, 2708, 2715.
The Lord came into the world to save those who are spiritual, 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834.
Isaiah 47
1
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
2
Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
3
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
4
As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5
Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
6
I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
7
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
8
Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9
But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
11
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
13
Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14
Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
15
Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
