Chapter 5
THE INITIAL
STEP TOWARD REDEMPTION
GENESIS 12, 13, and 14
Charles Fillmore
Mysteries of Genesis
ACCORDING to Jesus, when
a man turns toward a new country, a new
state of consciousness, he must quicken
his faith. Formerly he has had faith in
material processes; he has attached
himself to material things. Thus
Abraham long lived in the sense world
or consciousness, represented by Sodom
and Gomorrah. His higher ideal,
Jehovah, urged him to flee from that
world and not to move back but to
detach his mind from the things of
sense and turn his face toward the
light. This new land that the Lord
desired him to go to represents new
ideas and their manifestation, a new
relationship to the substance of
things. When the new ideas begin to
multiply in man's mind, his environment
changes; as Paul says, "if any man is
in Christ, he is a new creature." But
the beginning is to believe further
than you can see or feel in terms of
the senses. A man often finds it
necessary to go into a "new country"
that he knows nothing about; and he has
to trust the Lord to carry him through.
"Blessed are they that have not seen,
and yet have believed." To put faith in
things spiritual is the essential
step.
The call of Abraham is
considered the initial step in a great
plan for the redemption of the Adam
race from its material, sensual
consciousness, called the fall of man.
From any mortal viewpoint the time
seems long and the way tortuous, but we
may, if we will, enter into the mind of
the Spirit, where one day is as a
thousand years and a thousand years are
as one day, and here we see the whole
plan worked out in a definite,
systematic, and orderly way.
Every detail in
Abraham's experience has a definite
counterpart in the life of each one who
is bringing forth the Christ in man. A
study of these things is therefore of
great importance to all who seek the
realization of sonship. To them it is
given to understand "the mystery which
hath been hid for ages and
generations."
Abraham represents
faith, the first great faculty
developed or "called out" by man in the
unfoldment of his spiritual nature or
Christ Mind. Faith is that faculty by
which we know God as omnipresent Spirit
substance. This substance is man's
supply, as discerned by the author of
Hebrews when he said, "Faith is the
substance of things hoped for." By
faith we appropriate the spiritual
substance of whatever things we desire,
thus taking the first step necessary to
their manifestation. Abraham, rich in
faith, increased his substance until it
was very great.
Volumes might be written
about faith in its relation to the
conscious, subconscious, and
superconscious departments of mind; or
about its centers of action in the
body. Abraham represents faith in its
early establishment in consciousness,
and his life portrays the different
movements of this faculty on the
various planes of action in man's
being. In order to understand the
lessons that Abraham's life has for us,
a certain familiarity with each plane
of consciousness is
necessary.
That in the individual
which is called "I" may be termed
attention. It is in reality the
spiritual man. It is the inherent
capacity of the "I" to recognize ideas
and through the law of Being to form
ideas into states of consciousness. By
forming these new states and setting up
action in their various departments,
the "I" (attention) can then leave
them, as the millwright leaves the mill
he has constructed over a waterfall.
Nature carries on the work once it is
established.
So we find ourselves in
possession of states of consciousness
that may seem to be ignorant. There
are, for instance, the subconscious
states that have to do with the
processes of digestion, assimilation,
circulation, respiration, elimination,
and the like. We could not be in
possession of an organism having these
various powers of mind unless at some
point in our experience we had
established them. If we consciously
assumed these powers ourselves, it is
plainly possible that we could again go
back of them and become familiar with
their subconscious action.
Thus it is a question of
attention whether or not we shall know
about these various planes of mental
activity. If we fix our thoughts for
but ten minutes a day on the heart, we
shall know in a short time what is
going on at that center. So with every
department of the organism. Whatever
the process being carried on by an
organ in the body, we may be assured
that a center of intelligence is
located somewhere in the vicinity of
it, and by continually focusing our
attention there we may become familiar
with its office and work.
Abraham represents man
in the first awakening of his faith,
when he is dominated by it. The very
name has come to be almost a synonym
for faith. Abraham was dwelling in a
realm of limited thought, and he was
called out by Spirit into a great
expansion of all his thoughts and
powers through faith. All the people
and places mentioned in connection with
his history have a symbolical meaning.
They represent other faculties and
phases of mind that are called into
expression along with faith.
Gen. 12:1-5. Now
Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's
house, unto the land that I will
show thee: and I will make of thee
a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and make thy name great; and
be thou a blessing: and I will
bless them that bless thee, and him
that curseth thee will I curse: and
in thee shall all the families of
the earth be blessed. So Abram
went, as Jehovah had spoken unto
him; and Lot went with him: and
Abram was seventy and five years
old when he departed out of Haran.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and
Lot his brother's son, and all
their substance that they had
gathered, and the souls that they
had gotten in Haran; and they went
forth to go into the land of
Canaan; and into the land of Canaan
they came.
The movement in
consciousness represented in this
Scripture is that of an individual who
has been spiritually inactive or
laggard. The name of Abraham's father
Terah signifies "loitering." The Lord
or spiritual impulse within presses
forth to religious activity. It
virtually says, "Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy father's [loiterer's] house, unto
the land that I will show
thee."
When this call comes,
lofty ideas begin to possess the mind.
The name in its original form, Abram,
means "exalted father." Faith in the
unseen God and in divine guidance
inspires lofty thoughts that become
part of the consciousness without
special effort when man is obedient to
the call of Spirit. To those who depend
on the evidence of the senses it may be
blind faith, but it works out
beautifully in the life of those who
are true to it.
When Abraham went to
seek a new country (consciousness) in
response to the call of the Spirit, Lot
went with him. The name Lot means
"hidden," "concealed," "covert," and
Lot represents the negative side of
faith. When faith (Abraham) expands in
consciousness (in a new and greater
country), its old subconscious element
(Lot) expands also. Lot may also be
said to symbolize the part of man that
is still in darkness; in other words,
the natural or animal man. This part of
man's nature he cannot escape, but must
take with him into the new country. He
can, however, by association, lift it
up and increase its capacity, as
Abraham "lifted up" and aided Lot, for
we read that Lot prospered as
well.
(For further
interpretation of Abraham and Lot see
commentary on Gen. 13.)
Gen. 12:6-9. And
Abram passed through the land unto
the place of Shechem, unto the oak
of Moreh. And the Canaanite was
then in the land. And Jehovah
appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto
thy seed will I give this land: and
there builded he an altar unto
Jehovah, who appeared unto him. And
he removed from thence unto the
mountain on the east of Beth-el,
and pitched his tent, having
Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the
east: and there he builded an altar
unto Jehovah, and called upon the
name of Jehovah. And Abram
journeyed, going on still toward
the South.
In this instance Canaan
represents the pure elements of the
natural body. Moreh represents the mind
that is receptive to Truth; a
tabernacle. In a tabernacle state of
mind the constructive methods that are
always characteristic of the divine are
revealed, and in this state of mind
protection and strength (oak tree) are
realized, and victory is
assured.
The "oak of Moreh" may
also be said to represent a nerve
center in the body, and the tabernacle
an aggregation of cells.
The name Shechem means
"inclining," "shoulder." Shechem
represents man's wholly material
thoughts about himself and the
universe, which tend to make life a
burden.
The name Beth-el means
"house of God." Beth-el represents the
understanding that all seemingly
material things in reality have their
origin in Spirit.
The name Ai means "heap
of ruins." Ai refers to egotism and
self-confidence without recognition of
Spirit. These qualities are
counterfeits of faith; they are
destructive of the building of a truly
spiritual character and must be put
away so that the individual may come
into a knowledge of his unity with
God.
Gen. 12:10. And
there was a famine in the land: and
Abram went down into Egypt to
sojourn there; for the famine was
sore in the land.
There was a famine in
Abraham's land, and this caused him to
go down into Egypt. Egypt represents
the realm of substance and life in the
depths of the body consciousness. In a
sense this is a region of darkness and
mystery, yet it is a great kingdom rich
in substance and essential to the
preservation of the body.
It refers to the
vitality of the abdominal region. Those
who have not attained an all-round
understanding of the divine law do not
know how to affirm the flow of a steady
current of life from below to feed the
flame of intelligence above, and
therefore they have periods of bodily
exhaustion. In this condition they seem
to lose divine guidance and are plunged
into apparent darkness (Egypt). This is
a very necessary adjustment
however.
Gen. 12:11-20. And
it came to pass, when he was come
near to enter into Egypt, that he
said unto Sarai his wife, Behold
now, I know that thou art a fair
woman to look upon: and it will
come to pass, when the Egyptians
shall see thee, that they will say,
This is his wife: and they will
kill me, but they will save thee
alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art
my sister; that it may be well with
me for thy sake, and that my soul
may live because of thee. And it
came to pass, that, when Abram was
come into Egypt, the Egyptians
beheld the woman that she was very
fair. And the princes of Pharaoh
saw her, and praised her to
Pharaoh: and the woman was taken
into Pharaoh's house. And he dealt
well with Abram for her sake: and
he had sheep, and oxen, and
he-asses, and men-servants, and
maid-servants, and she-asses, and
camels. And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh
and his house with great plagues
because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And
Pharaoh called Abram, and said,
What is this that thou hast done
unto me? why didst thou not tell me
that she was thy wife? why saidst
thou, She is my sister, so that I
took her to be my wife? now
therefore behold thy wife, take
her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh
gave men charge concerning him: and
they brought him on the way, and
his wife, and all that he
had.
Here again we see the
result of a lack of spiritual
understanding. Pharaoh represents "the
sun." He is the ruler of the solar
plexus, the sun center in the
subconscious mind. This is obscurity or
"Egypt" to the conscious mind.
Pharaoh's (the sun's) being in Egypt
points to the truth that the light of
the sun of righteousness is veiled by
our life on the lower or sense plane.
Pharaoh also signifies the whole house,
the whole body consciousness; he is the
force that rules the body under the
natural regime.
Sarai represents the
soul not yet regenerated and under
divine law should not be allowed to
unite with Pharaoh (physical
sensation). Not having the divine
understanding when he was drawn down
into Egypt (seat of the vital
processes), Abram allowed Sarai (his
unregenerate love, affection, and
emotion) to become united with Pharaoh
(the dominating physical ego) and this
brought plagues upon the land of Egypt
(bodily ills).
Metaphysicians
regenerating their bodies through the
power of the spoken word should heed
this lesson. When quickening,
cleansing, and readjusting the cells at
their life center, they should silently
declare:
"The sensation of
the flesh cannot hold my love, for
my love is the daughter of God, and
we are joined in purity and pure
desire in my Father's
house."
Thus they may escape the
plagues of Egypt and the rebuke of
Pharaoh: "What is this that thou hast
done unto me? why didst thou not tell
me that she was thy wife?"
Gen. 13:1. And Abram
went up out of Egypt, he, and his
wife, and all that he had, and Lot
with him, into the South.
Abram went up out of the
land of Egypt, "and Lot with him"; for
the time had not yet come when Abram
could part with Lot (the subjective)
and dwell in the Promised Land (the
purely spiritual
consciousness).
Lot can also be said to
symbolize the part of man's
consciousness that is still spiritually
undeveloped. In other words, Lot
represents the natural or animal man.
Abram still had much growth to make
before he could sustain a consciousness
of Spirit. He was unable as yet to
cross out the material side of his
nature. He still had faith in
materiality and a dual vision as to the
fulfillment of the Scriptures. He saw
the negative as well as the positive;
evil as well as good.
Until the Christ Mind is
firmly established in the individual he
retains a certain residue of faith in
negative appearances. This divided
state of mind causes confusion and
discord.
Gen. 13:2-4. And
Abram was very rich in cattle, in
silver, and in gold. And he went on
his journeys from the South even to
Beth-el, unto the place where his
tent had been at the beginning,
between Beth-el and Ai.
Abram (faith) while in
Egypt accumulates rich substance ideas,
which are necessary for a well-balanced
mind and body. Bethel (house of God)
represents the perfect body ideal. Ai
(heap of rubbish) represents the
physical manifestation with an
increased appreciation and possession
of life and substance (cattle, silver,
and gold).
The return from Egypt is
symbolical of man's return to his
divine-natural consciousness. This was
not a single event; it is something
that occurs again and again in the
Bible story, and is repeated in the
case of every individual who comes into
a realization of his spiritual oneness
with God. The whole nation of Israel
was called out of Egypt to assume its
destiny of bringing forth the fruit
unto righteousness and life
everlasting, to play a part in the
restitution of the race to its Edenic
state. This is the essence of the
covenant. Jesus came up out of Egypt
where His parents had taken Him as a
child. Abram (faith) did not remain
long in Egypt (sense
consciousness).
Gen. 13:5-7. And Lot
also, who went with Abram, had
flocks, and herds, and tents. And
the land was not able to bear them,
that they might dwell together: for
their substance was great, so that
they could not dwell together. And
there was a strife between the
herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the
herdsmen of Lot's cattle: and the
Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt
then in the land.
It was Abraham rather
than Lot who suggested the separation.
When man reaches a certain point in his
spiritual development he realizes that
he must let go of everything that
retards his progress. Lot is typical of
the natural man, always eager to take
the best for himself. He chose the
plain of the Jordan because it was
"like the land of Egypt."
True faith in God is
separated from all negative belief that
the body is material, impure, or
transient. The herdsmen of Abraham were
separated from the herdsmen of Lot. The
time comes when by reason of the
increase of faith or substance these
two types of mind cannot dwell
together: "the land was not able to
bear them." So the senses of the man
who has centered his faith on the
invisible are by degrees separated from
the appeal of his lower nature and
become true herdsmen of his enduring
thoughts. As a true seer his vision is
fixed on the changeless reality
inhabiting all form, the substance of
which all visible manifestation is but
the configuration. His ear becomes
attuned to the unbroken harmony of life
that is permeating his mind and body
and the world about him. He learns so
to direct his thought of Spirit
substance that if a belief in material
imperfection should find lodgment in
his consciousness one touch of his mind
would release the hidden spring that
opens the way to healing of the
body.
Gen. 13:8-12. And
Abram said unto Lot, Let there be
no strife, I pray thee, between me
and thee, and between my herdsmen
and thy herdsmen; for we are
brethren. Is not the whole land
before thee? separate thyself, I
pray thee, from me: if thou wilt
take the left hand, then I will go
to the right; or if thou take the
right hand, then I will go to the
left. And Lot lifted up his eyes,
and beheld all the Plain of the
Jordan, that it was well watered
every where, before Jehovah
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like
the garden of Jehovah, like the
land of Egypt, as thou goest unto
Zoar. So Lot chose him all the
Plain of the Jordan; and Lot
journeyed east: and they separated
themselves the one from the other.
Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,
and Lot dwelt in the cities of the
Plain, and moved his tent as far as
Sodom.
When we put our faith
wholeheartedly in spiritual reality and
follow our ideal without wavering, we
are willing to allow sense
consciousness the choice of its own
field of action. Abraham gave Lot his
choice of land. When we withdraw our
interest from the natural man, there is
a separation. True thought and untrue
thought cannot intermingle.
Canaan means "lowland,"
but it is here that Abraham lived after
his separation from Lot. Is it not
significant that this "lowland" became
the Promised Land, the land "flowing
with milk and honey"? True faith, which
works through love, has power to refine
the body and so make it the promised
land of the soul. When man rediscovers
this lost domain, the promises of the
Scriptures will be
fulfilled.
Every faculty of the
mind has an active and a passive side,
an objective and a subjective, a
positive and a negative. Abraham
represents the faculty of faith in its
positive expression. To complete the
symbol we find Lot ("hidden,"
"concealed") representing the negative
or undeveloped aspect of faith. His
domain is the flesh. He accompanied
Abraham into Egypt and back again. When
they separated, Lot chose to dwell in
the "Plain of the Jordan . . . like the
land of Egypt, as thou goest unto
Zoar." The river Jordan here symbolizes
the descending flow of thought running
through the organism from head to foot.
When mortal beliefs rule the
individual, the life flow is muddy with
sense concepts and turbulent with
materiality. The Jordan is noted as a
muddy stream. Zoar ("smallness,"
"littleness") represents that which is
inferior. We should beware how we link
our I AM consciousness with the faith
that is established in the flesh,
typified by Lot.
(For Sodom and Gomorrah
see interpretation of Gen.
10).
Gen. 13:13-18. Now
the men of Sodom were wicked and
sinners against Jehovah
exceedingly. And Jehovah said unto
Abram, after that Lot was separated
from him, Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou
art, northward and southward and
eastward and westward: for all the
land which thou seest, to thee will
I give it, and to thy seed for
ever. And I will make thy seed as
the dust of the earth: so that if a
man can number the dust of the
earth, then may thy seed also be
numbered. Arise, walk through the
land in the length of it and in the
breadth of it; for unto thee will I
give it. And Abram moved his tent,
and came and dwelt by the oaks of
Mamre, which are in Hebron, and
built there an altar unto
Jehovah.
Hebron ("community,"
"alliance," "friendship") represents an
association of ideas; in other words,
concentration. Spiritual unfoldment
always causes one to direct toward
God's children everywhere a kindly
feeling that is constant, deep, tender.
Ability to do this is one of the
indispensable qualifications of every
successful spiritual leader.
Mamre ("firmness,"
"vigor," "strength") refers to the
front brain, the seat of conscious
thought. The lesson here is that faith
in God (Abraham) brings about the right
relationship among all the associated
faculties, and withal an enduring
firmness, vigor, and strength. Mamre in
the sense of "fatness," "abundantly
supplied," "well-fed," refers to a
consciousness of substance and riches.
The qualities represented by Mamre are
not of the highest spiritual
consciousness, the Christ Mind, but
they belong more to the spiritually
awakening intellect of the
individual.
In Truth a person does
not have to change his residence in
order to enter a new country. "The land
which thou seest" refers to a new
concept of substance. When we deny our
attachment to matter and material
conditions and affirm our unity with
spiritual substance, we enter the new
consciousness of real
substance.
Substance is not
confined to matter; it is the idea that
is the firm foundation of all that we
conceive to be permanent.
Abraham's moving his
tent signifies that the center of
consciousness changed; in this case
from a lower to a higher
plane.
Gen. 14:1-11. And it
came to pass in the days of
Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch
king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king
of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
that they made war with Bera king
of Sodom, and with Birsha king of
Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and
Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the
king of Bela (the same is Zoar).
All these joined together in the
vale of Siddim (the same is the
Salt Sea). Twelve years they served
Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth
year they rebelled. And in the
fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer,
and the kings that were with him,
and smote the Rephaim in
Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in
Ham, and the Emim in
Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites
in their mount Seir, unto El-paran,
which is by the wilderness. And
they returned, and came to
En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh),
and smote all the country of the
Amalekites, and also the Amorites,
that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar. And
there went out the king of Sodom,
and the king of Gomorrah, and the
king of Admah, and the king of
Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the
same is Zoar); and they set the
battle in array against them in the
vale of Siddim; against
Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and
Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel
king of Shinar, and Arioch king of
Ellasar; four kings against the
five. Now the vale of Siddim was
full of slime pits; and the kings
of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and
they fell there, and they that
remained fled to the mountain. And
they took all the goods of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and all their
victuals, and went their
way.
Amraphel ("keeper of the
treasures," "speaker of mysteries")
represents the belief of unawakened man
that in generation, in physical
reproduction, he is fulfilling the
creative law of Being.
Shinar ("two rivers,"
"divided stream," "divided mind")
represents a belief in two powers, an
evil as well as a good power, and error
results.
Arioch ("lionlike,"
"venerable") represents the seeming
power, strength, and ("lionlike")
dominion that sex lust has over man;
also the belief so prevalent among all
peoples that the secret desires and
habits pertaining to the sex life must
be good and must have been ordained of
God because of ages of acceptance and
practice. Therefore they are regarded
as sacred ("venerable").
Ellasar ("strong
rebellion," "oath of Assyria," "oak of
Assyria") represents a state of
consciousness whose central thought and
belief has to do with sex on the
physical plane. It does not look to
Spirit for its strength and power but
trusts in the "mind of the
flesh."
Chedorlaomer ("handful
of sheaves," "roundness of a sheaf")
represents the generative function of
the body given over to the expression
of sex lust.
Elam ("hidden,"
"concealed," "everlasting") represents
thoughts of the abidingness,
resourcefulness, and creative power of
Truth. The natural man may not know the
truth of his being; it may be hidden
under the debris of sense thought and
belief. It will come to light in due
time however and will bring forth its
fruit of perfection in the life of
every individual.
Tidal ("veneration,"
"awe," "fear") represents the prominent
place that sensuality has in the
material and carnal states of
consciousness that belong to the outer,
animal man; also the fearfulness that
results from sense
expression.
Goiim ("Gentiles,"
"people, especially foreign")
represents the carnal, material
thoughts and states of consciousness
that belong to the outer man
(Gentile).
Bera ("spontaneous
gift," "son of desire," "son of evil")
represents the directing thoughts and
desires of the sensual state of
consciousness denoted by
Sodom.
(For Sodom see
interpretation of Gen. 10.)
Birsha ("son of
wickedness," "son of impiety," "fat
with evil") was King of Gomorrah in
Abraham's time. The name Gomorrah means
"material force," "tyranny,"
"oppression." Gomorrah denotes a state
of mind that is adverse to the law of
Spirit. This state of mind has to do
with the submerged or hidden
subconscious phase of man's sensual
life. Birsha represents the ruling
thought in this state of consciousness
in the individual.
Shinab ("sharpened
desire," "father of mutation," "father
of transgression") represents the
presiding thought of the state of
consciousness denoted by
Admah.
Admah ("dumb,"
"unrelenting," "tomb") represents the
seeming strength and mercilessness of
the death thought and condition that
enters into man's experience as the
result of his carnal, material, adverse
thoughts and activities.
Shemeber ("superior
brilliance," "high flight," "superior
name") represents the innate spiritual
ideal implanted in man from the
beginning that causes him to grow,
unfold, and unceasingly desire and seek
to attain a higher and better
understanding.
Zeboiim ("wars,"
"rending with the teeth") represents
ravenous appetites, sensual passions,
the wild-beast nature holding sway in
the subconsciousness. The fact that
Shemeber was King of Zeboiim shows that
the perfect-man idea of God is
implanted in the physical being of man
as well as in his more inner spiritual
consciousness.
Zoar ("reduced,"
"lessened") denotes inferiority. It was
one of the wicked cities of the plain
belonging to Moab (carnal
mind).
Bela ("swallow up,"
"utterly consume or destroy")
represents the destructive tendencies
in consciousness. The city of Bela
symbolizes a group of destroying,
consuming thoughts. It suggests the
destroying of letting go of error by
denial, an absorption or "swallowing
up" of error by Truth or of darkness by
light, thus doing away with the
error.
Siddim ("extensions,"
"stony land") represents the very
lowest material idea and manifestation
of substance in the sense consciousness
and the body consciousness of the
individual.
Rephaim ("bonds,"
"terrors," "giants") was the name of a
people of great stature, and Rephaim
represents the seeming strength of
binding, fear-producing, opposing
thoughts in consciousness at a certain
stage of man's unfoldment into
Truth.
Ashteroth-karnaim
("horned Ashteroth," "Ashteroth of two
peaks") represents the state of
consciousness in man that attributes
double honor, authority, and power to
purely intellectual understanding and
capacity. In this state of
consciousness man does not recognize
that God instead of intellect is the
source of intelligence. The intellect
borrows its real light from Spirit,
just as the moon, which has no light of
its own, reflects light from the sun.
Ashteroth refers to the moon or
intellect, while Karnaim (two horns or
peaks) suggests exultation and
power.
Zuzim ("glittering,"
"flowing out like rays," "sprouting,"
"restless") was the name of a people
"in Ham." Zuzim represents the
confusion, fears, unrestrained
emotions, and general terrors of the
physical consciousness of "mind of the
flesh," seemingly very prominent and
flourishing at a certain stage in the
evolution or unfoldment of the
individual.
Ham ("inferior," "hot")
represents the material consciousness
in man.
Emim ("the terrible,"
"formidable people," "objects of
terror," that is, "idols") was the name
of a race of giants in
Shaveh-kiriathaim. Metaphysically Emim
represents giant terrors and fears in
human consciousness that are a result
of man's believing in the outer, formed
world and the conditions that man has
built up as being real and
true.
Shaveh-kiriathaim
("plain of the twin cities," "plain of
the double meetings") is the name of a
place. The name Shaveh means "a plain,"
and Shaveh represents an equalized,
poised state of mind and body. The name
Kiriathaim means "double city," and
Kiriathaim denotes double strength or
supply. Shaveh-kiriathaim thus denotes
poise and equilibrium in the
consciousness and the organism, doubly
established and sure.
The Horites ("cave
dwellers," "dwellers in black holes"),
inhabitants of Edom, represent forces
in action in man's physical organism,
more especially the deep-seated,
subconscious, fleshly forces and
tendencies.
Seir ("bristling,"
"hairy," "rough," "horror") represents
the physical or sense consciousness in
man.
El-paran ("strength of
Paran," "oak of the region of the
caves") denotes the seeming strength of
the multitude of confused and
undisciplined thoughts and energies in
man's subconscious mind that are given
over to the furtherance of sense
expression.
En-mishpat ("fountain of
judgment," "fountain of right")
symbolizes the truth that under the law
of adjustment, when it reaches a
certain point in expression, sense
indulgence destroys the very error
desires that keep it active in
consciousness. Then these desires die
for lack of fuel to keep them
alive.
The name Kadesh means
"holy," "consecrated," "a sanctuary."
Kadesh represents the divine presence
within the individual
consciousness.
The Amalekites
("warlike," "valley dweller," "that
licks up") represent the base desires
of the individual; the animal forces,
appetites, and passions of the
subconscious mind.
(For Amorites see
interpretation of Gen. 10.)
Hazazon-tamar ("a
division of palms," "felling of palms,"
"victory divided") represents a divided
mind. This mind must be conquered
before one can become fearless and so
gain a real victory over error. When
the thoughts are divided the results
are divided.
This whole Scripture
reveals the working out of sense on the
lowest plane of consciousness. The
kings in this chapter who served
Chedorlaomer for twelve years and then
rebelled represent ruling thoughts in
the hidden sense consciousness of man.
Error fights error, destroying much of
it, and the remainder is lifted up
(flees to the mountain) and eventually
is absorbed by Truth. We often refer to
this movement of mind as a transmuting
process. A close study of these verses
tells us that even in battling with sex
the Spirit of the Lord is constantly
working, through the law of sowing and
reaping, to unveil to man's
consciousness a higher way of
life.
Gen. 14:12. And they
took Lot, Abram's brother's son,
who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods,
and departed.
Lot and all his
possessions were carried away by
Chedorlaomer and the kings with him,
who symbolize the rule of sensuality in
man. These sense beliefs and desires
have seemingly overpowered the negative
side of faith that Lot symbolizes. The
power of this side of faith has been
taken over to build up and sustain
flesh that is ruled over by carnal
thought. But when knowledge of this
occurrence comes to the positive side
of the faith faculty in the individual
(Abraham) who has come up out of
material thought (Egypt) and passed to
a higher concept of God (Hebrew), let
us see what happens. Positive faith
(Abraham) gets into action with a
thought power that destroys sense rule
(Chedorlaomer and his allies) and
restores negative faith (Lot) to its
rightful place in
consciousness.
Gen. 14:13-20. And
there came one that had escaped,
and told Abram the Hebrew: now he
dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, the
Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and
brother of Aner; and these were
confederate with Abram. And when
Abram heard that his brother was
taken captive, he led forth his
trained men, born in his house,
three hundred and eighteen, and
pursued as far as Dan. And he
divided himself against them by
night, he and his servants, and
smote them, and pursued them unto
Hobah, which is on the left hand of
Damascus. And he brought back all
the goods, and also brought back
his brother Lot, and his goods, and
the women also, and the people. And
the king of Sodom went out to meet
him, after his return from the
slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the
kings that were with him, at the
vale of Shaveh (the same is the
King's Vale). And Melchizedek king
of Salem brought forth bread and
wine: and he was priest of God Most
High. And he blessed him, and said,
Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
possessor of heaven and earth: and
blessed be God Most High, who hath
delivered thine enemies into thine
hand. And he gave him a tenth of
all.
Mamre ("strength"), Aner
("adolescent youth"), and Eshcol
("fruitfulness"), the Amorites who
"were confederate with Abram," suggest
thoughts of vigor and abundant
substance inspired by faith. These
thoughts are apparently material in
expression (Amorites), yet they are
friendly toward the individual's higher
concepts or faith in God (Abraham),
because in reality their true origin is
Spirit. They lend their conception of
strength and power to the aid of faith
while it is gaining its victory over
error.
Faith brings into action
all its accumulated wisdom and
understanding ("he led forth his
trained men") and makes a union with
the judgment faculty (Dan). Then faith
strikes at the very root of sensuality,
the mortal man's belief that life is
material. This belief is the hiding or
lurking place (Hobah) for the error
thoughts symbolized by the kings who
took Lot captive.
We can never fully
overcome sensuality until we put away
belief in materiality. We must know
that our whole being, including the
body, is not material but spiritual. By
sowing according to belief in the flesh
we reap the corruption of the flesh,
but by sowing according to Spirit we
reap eternal life. (Damascus also, like
Hobah, signifies a state of
consciousness founded on a material
conception of life in the
body.)
We find a rich symbology
in the story of Abraham's victorious
return from the battle. He was met at
the "vale of Shaveh" (which means
"plain," a level place, a place of
equality) by Melchizedek (whose name
means "king of righteousness"), priest
of God, who here symbolizes the Christ
consciousness in the individual. The
King of Sodom also met and greeted
Abraham on the "plain" of equality
(Shaveh). He here represents the ruling
power in the physical.
When the Christ
consciousness rules in both the mind
and the body, the individual is
established in right thinking and right
doing (righteousness). Then he has come
to the place of peace, poise,
equilibrium, and wholeness signified by
Shaveh. When this place is reached in
both the inner and the outer
consciousness (Salem and Sodom) there
is a great increase of substance and of
life in one's realization. This
increase comes from the higher
spiritual mind within, the Christ, and
is symbolized by the bread and the wine
that Melchizedek gave to Abraham.
Melchizedek blessed Abraham and blessed
God, and Abraham gave him "a tenth of
all." When a person realizes that his
victories are gained by the power of
God alone, he should willingly use a
tenth of his increase of power,
understanding, and substance for the
furtherance of the Christ
Truth.
Gen. 14:21-24. And
the king of Sodom said unto Abram,
Give me the persons, and take the
goods to thyself. And Abram said to
the king of Sodom, I have lifted up
my hand unto Jehovah, God Most
High, possessor of heaven and
earth, that I will not take a
thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught
that is thine, lest thou shouldest
say, I have made Abram rich: save
only that which the young men have
eaten, and the portion of the men
that went with me, Aner, Eshcol,
and Mamre; let them take their
portion.
Abraham refused the
proffered gifts of the King of Sodom
(sense man), which teaches us that
there must be a lifting up and
transmuting of the seeming material
life and substance in the body before
it can be utilized by the higher
faculties of the mind. None of the
credit for the multiplication of
substance and strength should be given
to the mortal in man's nature. Spirit
gives all the increase of
good.
Abram represents the
spiritual ego, and the King of Sodom
represents the personal, the physical
ego. The spiritual ego or spiritual man
has its first development on the
physical plane. The two egos, the
spiritual and the physical, are united
there in appropriating physical things,
personal things, that they consider
valuable, such as appetites, passions,
and other things on the sense plane.
The spiritual man advances or develops
beyond that. He does not want these
things, so he gives them all to the
personality, the physical ego. Then the
physical man is willing to give up
anything to the spiritual man, and he
will claim that he supplied the
spiritual man. That is the
glorification of the personality. The
personal man claims that he is the
whole thing, that everything belongs to
him. It is personal selfishness, and
the spiritual man does not want to be
told that he got anything from the
physical. He gets his things from the
realm of ideas, the spiritual
realm.
Man is prone to feel
that the outer or sense world is the
source of his good, at least a measure
of it. But in order fully to realize
our sonship and our divine heritage, we
must hold fast to Spirit. We must see
Spirit as our only cause and
sustenance. We have a tendency to plead
the cause of the good in our sense
nature. This is characteristic of all
of us. We try hard to save some of our
sense thoughts and secret habits. We
have indulged in them so long (and our
ancestors before us did likewise,
beyond the memory of man) that we
cannot help thinking there is some good
in them. However we, like Abraham, must
keep our vision high. We must hold
steadfastly to the realization that God
is the one source of all, that in
spirit and in truth all is
good.
The young ("immature")
men who went with Abram had partaken
("eaten") of the pleasures of sense.
They represent the primitive
understanding, and as such they are
excused from the operation of the
spiritual law. The plane of activity
for life and strength at a certain
stage of man's development is the
physical, material plane. During this
stage God in His grace grants to man,
when his motive is pure, a degree of
immunity from the effects of his
ignorant transgression of the divine
law.
