Arcana Coelestia (Elliott): AC 3356

3356. The reason 'a quake' means an alteration of state is that a quake occurs within the space-time continuum, and in the next life there is no concept of space and time, but instead of these the concept of state. In the next life it does indeed appear as though all things exist within space and follow one another in a time-sequence, but in themselves they are alterations of state, for space and time there are the products of these. This is very well known to all spirits, even evil ones, who by means of alterations of state effected in others cause them to appear somewhere other than where they in fact are. Man too is able to know of this from the fact that insofar as his state is one of affection and therefore of joy, or insofar as it is one of thought and therefore of withdrawal from the body, he is outside time. For while such a state lasts, many hours seem to him to be as scarcely one hour. The reason for this is that states belong to his internal man, which is his spirit, to which states intervals of space and periods of time in the external man correspond. 'A quake' therefore, being one of the consecutive events that occur within space and time, in the internal sense means an alteration of state

GENESIS 26

And there was a famine in the land, in addition to the previous famine that occurred in the days of Abraham; and Isaac went to Abimelech the king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

And Jehovah appeared to him, and said, Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I tell you.

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you, for to you and to your seed I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

And I will cause your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your seed all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed,

Because Abraham hearkened to My voice and practiced My observances, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.

And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

And the men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, She is my sister. For he was afraid to say, My wife, [thinking,] The men of the place may perhaps kill me on account of Rebekah; for she was good-looking.

And it happened, because his days were prolonged for him there, that Abimelech the king of the Philistines looked through a window and saw, and behold, Isaac was laughing with Rebekah his wife.

And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, But behold, she is your wife! So how did you come to say, She is my sister? And Isaac said to him, Because I said, Perhaps I may die because of her.

And Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.

And Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, Anyone touching this man and his wife will surely die.

And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped ^a in that year a hundred measures; and Jehovah blessed him.

And the man increased, and went on increasing, so much so that he became extremely prosperous.^b

And he had acquired flocks, and had acquired herds, and he had many servants; and the Philistines envied him.

And all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped them up and filled them up with dust.

And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from being with us, for you are much mightier than we are.

And Isaac went away from there, and camped in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there.

And Isaac came back and dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father and which the Philistines had been stopping up after Abraham's death; and he called them names, according to the names which his father had called them.

And Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living water.

And the herdsmen of Gerar disputed with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

And they dug another well and disputed over that also; and he called the name of it Sitnah

And he moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not dispute over that; and he called the name of it Rehoboth, and said, Because now Jehovah has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land.

And he went up from there to Beersheba.

And Jehovah appeared to him that night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father; do not fear, for I am with you, and I will bless you, and will cause your seed to multiply, for the sake of Abraham My servant.

And he built an altar there and called on the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there. And Isaac's servants dug a well there.

And Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his companion, and Phicol the commander of his army.

And Isaac said to them, For what reason have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?

And they said, We saw clearly that Jehovah was with you, and we said, Let there be now a solemn agreement between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you.

If you do us no harm as we have not touched you and as we have done to you nothing but good, and sent you away in peace; you are now the blessed of Jehovah.

And he made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

And in the morning they rose up early, and swore, a man to his brother; and Isaac sent them away, and they went from being with him, in peace.

And so it was on that day, that Isaac's servants came and pointed out to him the reasons for the well which they had dug; and they said to him, We have found water.

And he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba even to this day.

34 And Esau was a son of forty years, and he took for a wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah.

Notes

^a lit. found
^b lit. great

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