Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 17:16
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AC 2064. Verse 16. And I will bless her, and I will give thee a son from her also; and I will bless her, and she shall be for nations; kings of peoples shall be from her. "I will bless her," signifies the multiplication of truth; "and I will give thee a son from her also," signifies the rational; "and I will bless her," signifies its multiplication; "and she shall be for nations," signifies the goods thence derived; "kings of peoples shall be from her," signifies truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are the "kings of peoples."

AC 2065. I will bless her. That this signifies the multiplication of truth, is evident from the signification of "being blessed," which is to be enriched with all good and truth (n. 981, 1096, 1420, 1422). As it is here said to Sarah that God would bless her, the enrichment or multiplication of truth is signified; for by Sarah, as before shown, is represented and signified the truth of good, which is intellectual truth; and this truth and its multiplication are here treated of. What intellectual truth is see (n. 1904).

AC 2066. And I will give thee a son from her also. That this signifies the rational, is evident from the signification of a " son," as being truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147); and as all that is rational begins from truth, the rational is here signified by a "son." The Lord’s first rational was represented and signified by Ishmael, born of Hagar the handmaid treated of in the preceding chapter 16. The second rational, treated of here, is represented and signified by Isaac who was to be born from Sarah. The former, that is, the rational represented by Ishmael, was the rational that was afterwards expelled from the house; but this second rational, represented by Isaac, is that which remained in the house, because it was Divine. But concerning this rational, of the Lord‘s Divine mercy we shall speak in the following chapter, where Isaac is treated of.

AC 2067. And I will bless her. That this signifies its multiplication, that is,- the multiplication of the rational meant by the "son," is evident from the signification of being "blessed," which is to be enriched with all good and truth.

AC 2068. And she shall be for nations. That this signifies the goods thence derived, is evident from the signification of "nations," as being goods (n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849).

AC 2069. Kings of peoples shall be from her. That this signifies truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are the "kings of peoples," is evident from the signification of "kings," as being in general all truths (n. 2015); and from the signification of "peoples," as also being truths, and in general all things spiritual; for "kings" are predicated of peoples, and not of nations except when nations signify evils (n. 1259, 1260). In the prophetic Word there is frequent mention of "kings" and "peoples;" but by these are never meant kings and peoples; for in the very Word itself, which is the internal sense, kings and peoples are not treated of at all, but the celestial and spiritual things which belong to the Lord’s kingdom, thus goods and truths. The sense of the letter simply furnishes objective forms (as is done by human words) for causing its meaning to be understood.

[2] As it is here said of Sarah that "kings of peoples shall be from her," and as by "Sarah" is signified the Divine truth which the Lord had, it is evident that by "kings of peoples" are signified truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are all truths of the internal church, or the interior truths of faith. These truths, being from the Lord, are called "kings" in various passages of the Word, and also "king‘s sons," as shown above (n. 2015).

[3] Every one can see that some internal Divine thing lies hidden in the words that "kings of peoples shall be from her"-for in this verse Isaac is treated of, and in reference to him it is said, "I will bless her and she shall be for nations;" but of Sarah, that "kings and peoples shall be from her"-and also in nearly the same thing being said of Abraham (verse 6), in that "kings should come forth" from him; but it is not said of him as of Sarah, that "kings of peoples" should be from him. The arcanum that is herein lies too deeply hidden to be unfolded and described in a few words. From the representation and signification of Abraham as being the Divine Good, and from the representation and signification of Sarah as being the Divine Truth, the arcanum is in some measure evident to the effect that all celestial truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Good, meant by "Abraham;" and that all spiritual truth will go forth and will be from the Lord‘s Divine Truth, meant by "Sarah." Celestial truth is that which is with the celestial angels, and spiritual truth is that which is with the spiritual angels; or what is the same thing, celestial truth is that which was with the men of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, and which was a celestial church; and spiritual truth is that which was with the men of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, and which was a spiritual church. For angels, as well as men of the church, are distinguished into the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial are distinguished from the spiritual by love to the Lord; and the spiritual are distinguished from the celestial by love toward the neighbor.

[4] But concerning celestial truth and spiritual truth no more can be said until it is known what the distinction is between the celestial and the spiritual, or what is the same, between the celestial church and the spiritual church (n. 202, 337, 1577; also what was the quality of the Most Ancient Church, and what that of the Ancient Church, (n. 597, 607, 640, 765, 1114-1125), and in many other places; and that to have love to the Lord is celestial, and to have love toward the neighbor is spiritual, (n. 2023).

[5] These considerations will suffice to open the arcanum that by the "kings" who should go forth from Abraham, spoken of in the sixth verse, are signified the celestial truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Good; and that by the "kings of peoples" who should be from Sarah, spoken of in the present verse, are signified the spiritual truths that inflow from the Lord‘s Divine Truth. For the Lord’s Divine good cannot inflow except with the celestial man, because it inflows into the will part, as it did in the case of the Most Ancient Church; but the Lord‘s Divine truth inflows with the spiritual man, because it inflows solely into his intellectual part, which in him has been separated from his will part (n. 2053, at the end) or what is the same, celestial good inflows with the celestial man, and spiritual good with the spiritual man; and on this account the Lord appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1529, 1530).

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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