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创世记第16章

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1 亚伯兰的妻子撒莱不给他生儿女。撒莱有一个使女,名叫夏甲,是埃及人。

2 撒莱对亚伯兰耶和华使我不能生育。求你和我的使女同房,或者我可以因他得孩子(原文作被建立)。亚伯兰听从了撒莱的话。

3 於是亚伯兰的妻子撒莱将使女埃及人夏甲丈夫为妾;那时亚伯兰迦南已经年。

4 亚伯兰与夏甲同房,夏甲就怀了孕;他见自己有孕,就小他的主母。

5 撒莱对亚伯兰:我因你受屈。我将我的使女放在你怀中,他见自己有了孕,就小我。愿耶和华在你我中间判断

6 亚伯兰对撒莱:使女在你下,你可以随意待他。撒莱苦待他,他就从撒莱面前逃走了。

7 耶和华的使者在旷野书珥上的泉旁遇见他,

8 对他:撒莱的使女夏甲,你从那里?要往那里去?夏甲:我从我的主母撒莱面前逃出

9 耶和华的使者对他:你回到你母那里,服在他

10 :我必使你的後裔极其繁多,甚至不可胜

11 :你如今怀孕要生一个儿子,可以给他起名以实玛利,因为耶和华见了你的苦情。(以实玛利就是神见的意思)

12 他为人必像野驴。他的要攻打人,人的也要攻打他;他必住在众弟兄的东边。

13 夏甲就称那对他说话耶和华顾人的神。因而:在这里我也见那顾我的麽?

14 所以这庇耳拉海莱。这正在加低斯和巴列中间。

15 後来夏甲给亚伯兰生了一个儿子亚伯兰给他起名以实玛利

16 夏甲给亚伯兰以实玛利的时候,亚伯兰八十六岁。

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#1988

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1988. 'Abram was a son of ninety-nine years' means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. This is clear from the meaning of 'nine' when thought of as one less than ten, or what amounts to the same, of 'ninety-nine' when thought of as one less than a hundred; for when Isaac was born to him Abram was a hundred years old. The nature of the internal sense of the Word is made especially clear by the numbers that are used, as it is by the names. Any numbers whatever, as also any names, that are mentioned in the Word mean real things; for nothing ever exists in the Word that does not have that which is Divine within it, that is, which does not have an internal sense within it. How remote this sense is from the sense of the letter is especially evident from the names and numbers, for in heaven they pay no attention whatever to names and numbers but to things meant by the names or numbers. For example, whenever the number seven occurs, holiness instantly suggests itself to angels instead of the number seven, for 'seven' means holiness from the fact that the celestial man is the seventh day or the sabbath, and so the Lord's rest, 84-87, 395, 433, 716, 881. The same applies to all other numbers, for example, to the number twelve. Whenever twelve occurs the idea of everything belonging to faith suggests itself to angels, for the reason that the twelve tribes of Israel meant everything belonging to faith, 577. That numbers mean real things in the Word has been shown in Volume One; see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893.

[2] It is similar with the number 'ninety-nine'. That this number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man is clear from the meaning of 'a hundred years', Abram's age when Isaac was born to him, for Isaac represents and means the Lord's Rational Man which was joined to His Internal, that is, to the Divine. In the Word 'a hundred' has the same meaning as ten, for that number is the product of ten multiplied by ten, and 'ten' means remnants, as shown in Volume One, in 576. For what remnants residing with man are, see 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, and for what remnants residing with the Lord were, 1906. These arcana cannot be explained any further, but anyone can find out for himself once he has acquainted himself with what remnants are - for nowadays what they are is not known - provided it is realized that by remnants residing with the Lord are meant the Divine Goods which He acquired to Himself by His own power, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.

[3] These considerations show what is meant by 'ninety-nine'. Being one less than a hundred, that number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. 'Ishmael' represented the first rational with the Lord, the nature of which has been shown adequately enough above in the previous chapter. But 'Isaac' represents the Lord's Divine Rational, as will be clear later on. Anyone may see that an arcanum is embodied within the following circumstance: Abram having remained such a long time in the land of Canaan - twenty-four years now, ten before Ishmael's birth, and thirteen after - and not as yet having had a son by Sarai his wife, he then first received the promise of a son, when he had now reached ninety-nine and would be a hundred when this son was born. The arcanum is that by means of these experiences he might represent the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and in fact of His Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with His Rational.

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