1. ABRAHAM strongly engages his servant, who was the chief ruler in his family government, and laid an oath upon him, that he should not take a wife unto his son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom he dwelt, but go unto his kindred, and to his father's house, and take him a wife (Gen. xxiv. 2, 3). Reason does look upon this figure in a mean and simple manner, as if Abraham did hate and abominate this people among whom he dwelt, because of their evil conversation; but the Spirit of God in Moses who has thus noted down this figure, has his secret and mysterious meanings couched herein; and plays with the whole written history of the first book of Moses, 1 as with a most pleasant interlude; and points continually by the outward act of the external man upon the spiritual figure of the spiritual eternal man, in the kingdom of Christ.
1 Genesis.
2. The servant must swear unto Abraham an oath, that he would take a wife unto his son out of his family, stock and kindred. Wherefore did Abraham lay an oath upon him, whereas the servant must obey his master without taking an oath; and Isaac would not have taken a wife contrary to his father's mind and will? But the spirit of Moses does look here into the internal figure: Isaac stands here in the figure of Christ; and Abraham's servant stands in the figure of nature; and the Canaanites do stand in the figure of the introduced Serpent's ens, out of which the rebellious, selfish will of man's selfhood is arisen, viz. in the figure of the bestial man, which shall not inherit the kingdom of God. These three the spirit of Moses does set before him in the type, and thereby points at the true man which shall subsist eternally.
The inward figure is thus:
3. Abraham requires his servant, who was the chief in his whole family. Abraham here betokens God the Father; and the servant, by whom he governs, betokens nature. Nature must here in its might and strength swear unto God, that is, deeply engage and essentially bind itself that it will not take unto Isaac, that is, to the Christians, viz. to God's children, a wife, that is, a matrix, of the Canaanites, viz. of the Serpent's ens; or associate with it to the propagation of the Serpent's ens; that it will not assume the poison of the dark world's property unto it, viz. the Canaanitish property, and introduce it into the children of Christ for their wife, viz. into the tincture of Venus, which is the true female matrix in men and women; but that it will join the true Adamical man, which God had created in his image (viz. the true human essence proceeding from the first original tree out of the first root, viz. from Abraham's stock, who betokens Adam) unto the ens of Christ, viz. to the true Isaac in the children of Christ.
4. Understand this thus: Adam has introduced into our flesh and soul the ens of the Serpent and the devil, which nature has taken into soul and body; and has begotten and brought forth therein a selfish, rebellious will, which is disobedient unto God.
1. ABRAHAM strongly engages his servant, who was the chief ruler in his family government, and laid an oath upon him, that he should not take a wife unto his son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom he dwelt, but go unto his kindred, and to his father's house, and take him a wife (Gen. xxiv. 2, 3). Reason does look upon this figure in a mean and simple manner, as if Abraham did hate and abominate this people among whom he dwelt, because of their evil conversation; but the Spirit of God in Moses who has thus noted down this figure, has his secret and mysterious meanings couched herein; and plays with the whole written history of the first book of Moses, 1 as with a most pleasant interlude; and points continually by the outward act of the external man upon the spiritual figure of the spiritual eternal man, in the kingdom of Christ.
1 Genesis.
2. The servant must swear unto Abraham an oath, that he would take a wife unto his son out of his family, stock and kindred. Wherefore did Abraham lay an oath upon him, whereas the servant must obey his master without taking an oath; and Isaac would not have taken a wife contrary to his father's mind and will? But the spirit of Moses does look here into the internal figure: Isaac stands here in the figure of Christ; and Abraham's servant stands in the figure of nature; and the Canaanites do stand in the figure of the introduced Serpent's ens, out of which the rebellious, selfish will of man's selfhood is arisen, viz. in the figure of the bestial man, which shall not inherit the kingdom of God. These three the spirit of Moses does set before him in the type, and thereby points at the true man which shall subsist eternally.
The inward figure is thus:
3. Abraham requires his servant, who was the chief in his whole family. Abraham here betokens God the Father; and the servant, by whom he governs, betokens nature. Nature must here in its might and strength swear unto God, that is, deeply engage and essentially bind itself that it will not take unto Isaac, that is, to the Christians, viz. to God's children, a wife, that is, a matrix, of the Canaanites, viz. of the Serpent's ens; or associate with it to the propagation of the Serpent's ens; that it will not assume the poison of the dark world's property unto it, viz. the Canaanitish property, and introduce it into the children of Christ for their wife, viz. into the tincture of Venus, which is the true female matrix in men and women; but that it will join the true Adamical man, which God had created in his image (viz. the true human essence proceeding from the first original tree out of the first root, viz. from Abraham's stock, who betokens Adam) unto the ens of Christ, viz. to the true Isaac in the children of Christ.
4. Understand this thus: Adam has introduced into our flesh and soul the ens of the Serpent and the devil, which nature has taken into soul and body; and has begotten and brought forth therein a selfish, rebellious will, which is disobedient unto God.
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