Bible

 

Genesis 47

Studie

   

1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

2 And from among his brethren he took five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.

4 And they said unto Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land are we come; for there is no pasture for thy servants' flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:

6 the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life?

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for [our] money faileth.

16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will Give you for your cattle, if money fail.

17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year.

18 And when that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:

19 wherefore should we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate.

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them: and the land became Pharaoh's.

21 And as for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

22 Only the land of the priests bought he not: for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; wherefore they sold not their land.

23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

24 And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

26 And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone became not Pharaoh's.

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years.

29 And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt;

30 but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

31 And he said, Swear unto me: and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 6074

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

6074. And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are a shepherd of the flock. That this signifies that they lead to good, is evident from the signification of a “shepherd of the flock,” as being one who leads to good (see n. 6044), here the truths which lead to good, because the sons of Jacob denote the truths of the church.

pp6075. Both we and our fathers. That this signifies that this is so from the ancients, is evident from the signification of “fathers,” as being those who were of the ancient churches (see n. 6050). In many passages of the Word where the Jews and the Israelites are treated of, their fathers are mentioned with praise. They who abide in the sense of the letter understand by “fathers” in these passages no others than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also the sons of Jacob. But in the internal sense by “fathers” there, when spoken of in a good sense, are not meant these patriarchs, but they who were of the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and they who were of the Ancient Church which was after the flood. The men of both these churches were called “fathers” because from them the church had descended, and the things of the church had been derived.

[2] By “fathers” are meant those who were of the Ancient Churches, in Moses:

vah had delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them (Deuteronomy 10:15).

And again:

Remember the days of eternity, understand the years of generation and generation. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. But when Jeshurun waxed fat, he forsook God, they sacrifice to demons, to gods that came from what is near, and that your fathers knew not (Deuteronomy 32:7-8, 15, 17).

This passage occurs in the prophetic song of Moses, in which the Ancient Church is treated of from verse seven to verse fifteen, and the posterity of Jacob, 47:15-31. The state of the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood is signified by the “days of eternity;” and the state of the Ancient Church which was after the flood by the “years of generation and generation;” the state of their good by the “inheritance which the Most High gave to the nations;” and the state of their truth by the “Most High separating the sons of man, and setting the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.” (That this number, or twelve, means all truths of faith in the complex, may be seen above, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913.) From this it is plain that by “fathers” are signified those who were of the Ancient Churches.

[3] In like manner in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Our house of holiness, and our ornament, where our fathers praised Thee, is become a burning of fire (Isaiah 64:11).

In Jeremiah:

Did not thy father eat and drink? but he did judgment and justice; then it was well with him (Jeremiah 22:15).

Again:

They sinned to Jehovah, the habitation of justice, and the hope of their fathers, to Jehovah (Jeremiah 50:7).

In David:

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, the work Thou didst in their days, in the days of antiquity (Psalms 44:1).

“Fathers” have the like signification in Daniel 11:24, 37-38. That they who were of the Ancient Churches are meant by “fathers” in these passages, is not seen in the sense of the letter, but only from the internal sense, in which the church and its goods and truths are treated of. Moreover the church itself, being the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of good and truth, is called in the Word “father” as to good, and “mother” as to truth (n. 3703, 5581).

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.