. Is not the whole land before thee? That this signifies all good, is evident from the signification of "land" in a good sense, and here of the land of Canaan, which is the celestial, and therefore also good (n. 566, 620, 636, 662). The internal man here addresses the external, but those things in the external man which disagree; as a man is wont to do when he perceives some evil in himself from which he desires to be separated, as is the case in temptations and combats. For it is known to those who have been in temptations and combats, that they perceive in themselves things which disagree; from which, so long as there is combat, they cannot be separated; but still they desire separation, and sometimes to such a degree that they are angry with the evil, and desire to expel it. These are the things that are here signified.
. Separate, I pray, from me. That this signifies that the good cannot appear unless what is discordant is made none is evident from what has just been said; namely, that the internal man desires that which disagrees, in the external man, should separate itself; for until it has been separated, the good which continually flows in from the internal man, that is, from the Lord through the internal man, cannot appear. but as regards this separation, it is to be down that it is not separation, but quiescence. With no one, except the Lord, can the evil that is in the external man be separated. Whatever a man has once acquired, remains; but it seems to be separated when it is quiescent, for thus it appears to be none. Neither does it become quiescent so as to appear as none, except from the Lord; and when it does thus become quiescent, then for the first time do goods flow in from the Lord, and affect the external man. Such is the state of the angels; nor do they know otherwise than that evil has been separated from them; whereas there is only a withholding from the evil, thus a quiescence, so that it appears as none; consequently this is an appearance, as also the angels know when they reflect.
. If to the left hand, then I will go to the right; and if to the right hand, then I will go to the left. That this signifies separation, is evident from the signification of "the right" and "the left." Right and left are merely relative terms. They do not designate a fixed quarter, or a definite place; as is evident from the fact that the east as well as the west, the south as well as the north, may be on the right or on the left, according to the way in which one is looking. The same is true also of place. The land of Canaan could not be said to be on the right or on the left, except relatively. Wherever the Lord is, there is the center; and the right and the left are determined from that. Thus whether Abram, by whom the Lord was represented, withdrew this way or that way, still the representation was with him, and so also was the land; so that it was the same thing whether Abram was in the land of Canaan, or was elsewhere; just as it is with the one at table who is of the highest dignity, the highest place is wherever he sits, and the places to the right and the left are reckoned from that. To go to the right or the left, was therefore a form of offering the choice by which there was signified separation.
GENESIS 13:9previous
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