Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 21:6-7
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AC 2638
. Verses 6, 7. And Sarah said, God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons? for I have borne a son to his old age. " Sarah said," signifies perception from the Divine spiritual; "God hath made laughter for me," signifies the affection of celestial truth; "every one that heareth will laugh with me," signifies that all things in it will have this affection; "and she said," signifies thought; "who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons?" signifies that the Lord implanted the Human in the Divine by His own power; "for I have borne a son to his old age," signifies that this was done when the days were fulfilled.
AC 2639
. Sarah said. That this signifies perception from the Divine spiritual, is evident from the signification of "saying," as being to perceive; and from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual, or Divine truth (n. 2622).
AC 2640
. God hath made laughter for me. That this signifies the affection of celestial truth, is evident from the signification of "laughter," as being the affection of truth (n. 2072, 2216); and from the expression "God making," as denoting the celestial from which it is.
AC 2641
. Everyone that heareth will laugh with me. That this signifies that all things in it will have this affection, is evident from the signification of "hearing" and "laughing." In the Word to "hear" is predicated of what is of affection, but to "see" of what is of thought; which is evident from a great many passages in the Word, as also from the correspondences (n. 2542). As the affection of celestial truth is here treated of, it is said, "Every one that heareth," by which are signified all things that are of affection. To "laugh" denotes to be affected by truth, that is, to have the affection of truth (n. 2072, 2216, 2640).
AC 2642
. And she said. That this signifies thought, is evident from the signification of "saying," as being to perceive, and also to think (n. 2619).
AC 2643
. Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons? That this signifies that the Lord implanted the Human in the Divine by His own power, is evident from the representation of Abraham, and also of Sarah, and from the signification of "suckling’ and of "sons." That Abraham represents Divine good, and Sarah Divine truth, has been shown before. That "milk" denotes what is spiritual from a celestial origin, or truth from good, may be seen above (n. 2184); and thus to "suckle" is to implant it. That "sons" are truths, here those that are in the rational, is evident from the signification of "sons" (n. 489, 490, 491, 533). That these things signify in the internal sense that the Lord implanted the Human in the Divine by His own power, is because the Divine truth is the same as the Divine Human; and when it is said of this that it "suckles sons to Abraham," the signification is that it has implanted the Human in the Divine; and as it was the Human, He did it from His own power. But these things can with difficulty be explained more clearly to the understanding. If many words be used, the sense will become still more obscure; for these are Divine things, which can only be presented before angels by thing celestial and spiritual; and if they were presented before man in any more elevated style, they would fall into the material and corporeal ideas which man has.
[2] It is further to be known that the Lord‘s Divine rational is described as to its quality when it was first born in the words, "God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh with me; and she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons?" For it was according to ancient custom, that when a child was born, a name was given significative of the state; and that the state also was then described; as when Cain was born to Eve and Adam (Gen. 4:1); when Sheth was born to them (Gen. 4:25); when Noah was born to Lamech (Gen. 5:29); when Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac (Gen. 25:25, 26); when the twelve sons were born to Jacob (Gen. 29:32-35; 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; 35:18); when Perez and Zerah were born to Tamar (Gen. 38:29, 30); when Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph (Gen. 41:51, 52); when Gershom and Eliezer were born to Moses (Exod. 2:22; 18:4). What all these represent, and what they signify in the internal sense, was involved in the descriptions added to the names which were given; thus here what Isaac represents. What is involved is manifest in some degree from this brief explication, but deeper arcana yet are hidden within; for they are Divine things, which can be expressed by no forms or formulas of expression.
AC 2644
. For I have borne a son to his old age. That this signifies that this was done when the days were fulfilled, is evident from the explication of nearly the same words in the second verse (n. 2621-2624).
GENESIS 21:6-7
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