Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 12:4
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AC 1425. Verse 4. And Abram went as Jehovah spake unto him; and Lot went with him. And Abram was a son of five years and seventy years when he went forth out of Haran. By "Abram," as already said, is represented the Lord as to His Human Essence. "And Abram went as Jehovah spake unto him," signifies His progression toward Divine things; "and Lot went with him," signifies what is sensuous; by "Lot" is represented the Lord as to His sensuous and corporeal man; "and Abram was a son of five years and seventy years," signifies that as yet there was not very much of the Divine; "when he went forth out of Haran," signifies an obscure state of the Lord.

AC 1426. That by "Abram" is represented the Lord as to His Human Essence, is evident from everything that is said of Abram. Afterwards he represents the Lord both as to the Human and also the Divine Essence, and he is then called "Abraham." The things that have so far been said, from the first verse, represent and signify the Lord‘s first mental advertence that He was to put on celestial and thus Divine things. Here there commence the progressions of His Human Essence to His Divine Essence.

AC 1427. And Abram went as Jehovah spake unto him. That this signifies progression toward Divine things, is evident from what has just been said.

AC 1428. And Lot went with him. That this signifies what is sensuous, and that by "Lot" is represented the Lord as to His sensuous and corporeal man, is evident from the representation of Lot in what follows, where it is said that he was separated from Abram, and was saved by angels; but afterwards, when he was separated, Lot put on another representation, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. It is evident that the Lord was born as are other men, but of a virgin mother, and that He possessed what is sensuous and corporeal as do other men; but He differed from other men in the fact that His sensuous and corporeal was afterwards united to celestial things, and was made Divine. The Lord‘s sensuous and corporeal itself, or what is the same, His sensuous and corporeal man, as it was in His state of childhood-not as it became when united by means of celestial things to the Divine - is represented by Lot.

AC 1429. Abram was a son of five years and seventy years. That this signifies that as yet there was not very much of the Divine, is evident from the signification of the number "five" as being a little, and of the number "seventy" as being what is holy. That "five" denotes a little, has been shown above (n. 649); and also that " seventy," like "seven," signifies what is holy (n. 395, 433, 716, 881): here, because "seventy" is a predicated of the Lord, it signifies the holy Divine. That in the internal sense the numbers of Abram’s years also signify other things, is evident from what has been said and shown before concerning years and numbers (n. 482, 487, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813); and also from the fact that there is not a syllable or iota in the Word which has not an internal sense; and unless spiritual and celestial things were involved, it would not have been mentioned that Abram was then five years and seventy years old; neither would this have taken place at this age of Abram; as is evident also from other numbers, both of years and of measures, that occur in the Word.

AC 1430. When he went forth out of Haran. That this signifies an obscure state of the Lord, like that of man‘s childhood, is evident from the signification of "Haran" in the preceding chapter, whither Terah first came with Abram, and where Terah the father of Abram died (Gen. 11:31, 32); and also from what follows, in that Jacob went to Haran, where Laban dwelt (Gen. 27:43; 28:10; 29:4). Haran was a region where worship was external; and indeed, as regards Terah, Abram, and Laban, it was idolatrous; yet in the internal sense the same is not signified as in the external, but only something that is obscure. When from the external sense we pass to the internal the idea of idolatry does not remain, but is wiped away, just as the idea of holy love arises from the mention of a mountain (n. 795); in passing from the external sense to the internal, the idea of a mountain first perishes, and there remains the idea of height, and by height is represented holiness. So in all other cases.

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Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. www.BibleMeanings.info