Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 21:12
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AC 2662. Verse 12. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the child, and because of thine handmaid; all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. "God said unto Abraham," signifies the Lord‘s perception from the Divine; "let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the child, and because of thine handmaid," signifies a change of state toward that rational; "all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice," signifies that He should act according to spiritual truth; "for in Isaac shall thy seed be called," signifies that from the Lord’s Divine Human is all salvation for those who are in good.

AC 2663. God said unto Abraham. That this signifies the Lord‘s perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification of "saying" in the historic parts of the Word, as being to perceive (explained very often before); and because it was from the Divine it is said that "God said to Abraham." By both names "God" and "Abraham," is meant the Lord; which shows that the historic statements which are the sense of the letter, divide the ideas; but that the internal sense unites them; for in the historic sense of the letter there are two (namely, God and Abraham) who speak to each other; but in the internal sense there is one, namely, the Lord in respect to the Divine. This also shows that they who are three in the sense of the letter are one in the internal sense; as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are not three gods, but one; and that all the Trinity is complete in the Lord; namely, that in Him is the Father, as He says; and that from Him is the Holy Spirit, as He also says.

AC 2664. Let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the child, and because of thine handmaid. That this signifies a change of state toward that rational, is evident. In the internal sense nearest the words, the meaning is that He should not grieve at having to separate the merely human rational from Himself; and also that He did not grieve; for it belonged to His perception from the Divine that it was necessary that it should be separated; because in no other manner could the human race be saved. This is the change of state that is signified.

AC 2665. All that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice. That this signifies that He should act according to spiritual truth, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual, or Divine truth (n. 2622); and from the signification of "hearkening to the voice," as being to act according to it (n. 2542). What it is to act according to spiritual truth cannot be unfolded to the apprehension in the fullness in which it can be perceived by those who are in the internal sense; and therefore if we were to state what it is according to their perception, it would scarcely be acknowledged; and there is the further reason that more arcana are first to be unfolded, nay, believed, before the matter when unfolded can enter into the ideas of men’s belief. What it signifies in a general way can be told in some small degree, namely, that the Lord formed a conclusion from the Human Divine, and acted according to it, and thus from His own power: for Divine truth was that by means of which He united the Human to the Divine; and Divine good that by means of which He united the Divine to the Human; which unition was reciprocal (n. 2004).

AC 2666. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That this signifies that from the Lord‘s Divine Human is all salvation for those who are in good, is evident from the representation of Isaac, as being the Divine rational, thus the Divine Human, for the human commences in the inmost of the rational, (n. 2106); and from the signification of "seed," which is predicated of Isaac, as being the celestial rational, or what is the same, those who are celestial (n. 2085, 2661). Thus that "thy seed shall be called" signifies that they will be heirs, consequently that they will have salvation. The spiritual also are "seed," but from the son of the handmaid, as is said in the following verse:--" and also the son of the handmaid, I will make him a nation, because he is thy seed;" and therefore the spiritual also have salvation if they are in good, as will appear from the internal sense of these words. The Lord also teaches the same in many places, and plainly in John:--

AC 2667. From the first verse of this chapter to the seventh, the unition of the Lord’s Human with His Divine, and of His Divine with His Human, has been treated of; and it has been shown that from that unition the Lord‘s Human was made Divine. The contents of the several verses may be seen above (n. 2649). From that point the merely human rational has been treated of, as being separated (verse 8); because it was not in agreement with the Divine Rational (verse 9); nor could it have a life in common with it, either as to truth or as to good (verse 10) that the separation was at first a grief to the Lord (verse 11); but that He perceived from the Divine that the human race could be saved in no other manner (verse 12). There now follows the subject of those who were of the spiritual church, who are signified by Hagar’s son after he was sent away.

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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