Bible

 

Genesis 25

Studie

   

1 And Abraham took another wife named Keturah.

2 She became the mother of Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

3 And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

4 And from Midian came Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the offspring of Keturah.

5 Now Abraham gave all his property to Isaac;

6 But to the sons of his other women he gave offerings, and sent them away, while he was still living, into the east country.

7 Now the years of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five.

8 And Abraham came to his death, an old man, full of years; and he was put to rest with his people.

9 And Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, put him to rest in the hollow rock of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, near Mamre;

10 The same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth: there Abraham was put to rest with Sarah, his wife.

11 Now after the death of Abraham, the blessing of God was with Isaac, his son.

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian, the servant of Sarah:

13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their generations: Ishmael's first son was Nebaioth; then Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam

14 And Mishma and Dumah and Massa,

15 Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names in their towns and their tent-circles; twelve chiefs with their peoples.

17 And the years of Ishmael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven: and he came to his end, and was put to rest with his people.

18 And their country was from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt: they took their place to the east of all their brothers.

19 Now these are the generations of Abraham's son Isaac:

20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramaean, to be his wife.

21 Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.

22 And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this? So she went to put her question to the Lord.

23 And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and Two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger.

24 And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body.

25 And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau.

26 And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

27 And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

28 Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste: but Rebekah had more love for Jacob.

29 And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food;

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food: for this reason he was named Edom.

31 And Jacob said, First of all give me your birthright.

32 And Esau said, Truly, I am at the point of death: what profit is the birthright to me?

33 And Jacob said, First of all give me your oath; and he gave him his oath, handing over his birthright to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave him bread and soup; and he took food and drink and went away, caring little for his birthright.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3309

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

3309. 'And Esau was a man skilled in hunting' means the good of life that has its origin in sensory truths and factual truths. This is clear from the representation of 'Esau' as the good of life, dealt with above, and from the meaning of 'a man skilled in hunting' as those who have the affection for truth, dealt with in what follows - for 'a skilled man' has reference to the affection for truth, that is, to those who have that affection for truth, whereas 'hunting' means truths themselves, though truths which belong to the natural man and in which goods have their origin. Now because the truths of the natural man are called factual, 3293, and factual truths are primarily of two kinds or two degrees - sensory and factual proper - 'hunting' here means both of these. Sensory truths occur with children, factual with those same children when they are growing up, for factual truths cannot exist with anyone before he has received sensory truths because the ideas that make up factual truths are acquired from sensory truths. Then, from those factual truths, other truths even more interior can be learned and grasped, which are called matters of doctrine, meant by 'a man of the field', dealt with below in the next paragraph.

[2] The reason why 'hunting' means the sensory truths and factual truths that are taught to those in whom the good of life is present and who have the affection for those truths is that the word 'hunting' in a broad sense refers to creatures caught through hunting, such as rams, he-goats, she-goats, and the like, by which are meant spiritual goods, see 2180, 2830; and also because the weapons used in hunting, which were the quiver, the bow, and darts, mean matters of doctrine upholding what is true, 2685, 2686, 2709. These are the things meant by 'hunting', as may be seen from what Isaac his father told Esau, in Chapter 27 below,

Take now your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt venison for me, and make me savoury food such as I love. Genesis 27:3-4; and, in the same chapter, from what he told Jacob, who was posing as Esau,

Bring it to me that I may eat from my son's venison, so that my soul may bless you. Genesis 27:25.

These quotations show what 'hunting' or 'venison' means.

[3] Consequently 'hunting' is teaching [what is true] or else inducing a belief in what is false, and in both senses, that is to say, acting from an affection for truth or from an affection for falsity. Acting from an affection for truth is described in Jeremiah,

I will bring them back over their land which I gave to their fathers. Behold, I am sending to many fishermen, and they will fish them; and after that I will send to many hunters and they will hunt them from upon every mountain, and from upon every hill, and from the holes in the rocks. Jeremiah 16:15-16.

'Fishermen' stands for those whose teaching is drawn from sensory truths, 40, 991, 'hunters' those whose teaching is drawn from factual truths, and also from matters of doctrine. 'Upon every mountain, and upon every hill' stands for teaching people who are stirred by the affection for good and by the affection for truth - 'mountain' and 'hill' carrying such meanings, see 795, 796, 1430. 'Hunting in the field', as in Genesis 27:3, implies the same. Inducing others to believe what is false and doing so from the affection for falsity is described in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am against your little pillows with which you there hunt the souls to make them fly away, and I will tear them from on your arms, and I will let the souls go that you hunt, souls to fly away; and I will tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they will be no more in your hand to be hunted. Ezekiel 13:18-21.

For the meaning of 'hunting' in this sense, see 1178, though nets are normally associated with this type of hunting.

  
/ 10837  
  

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