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創世記 24

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1 亞伯拉罕年紀老邁,向在一切事上耶和華都賜福給他。

2 亞伯拉罕對管理他全業最老的僕人:請你把放在我大腿

3 我要叫你指著耶和華起誓,不要為我兒子娶這迦南中的女子為妻。

4 你要往我本本族去,為我的兒子以撒娶一個妻子

5 僕人對他:倘若女子不肯跟我到這方來,我必須將你的兒子帶回你原出之麼?

6 亞伯拉罕對他:你要謹慎,不要帶我的兒子回那裡去。

7 耶和華上的曾帶領我離開父家和本族的,對我說話,向我起誓:我要將這你的後裔。他必差遣使者在你面前,你就可以從那裡為我兒子娶一個妻子

8 倘若女子不肯跟你來,我使你起的誓就與你無干了,只是不可帶我的兒子回那裡去。

9 僕人就把放在他亞伯拉罕的大腿,為這事向他起誓。

10 僕人從他人的駱駝裡取了駱駝,並帶些他人各樣的財物,起身往米所波大米去,到了拿鶴的城。

11 天將晚,眾女子出來打的時候,他便叫駱駝跪在城外的那裡。

12 耶和華─我亞伯拉罕的阿,求你施恩給我亞伯拉罕,使我今日遇見好機會。

13 我現今站在井旁,城內居民的女子們正出來打

14 我向那一個女子:請你拿下水瓶來,給我水,他若:請!我也給你的駱駝,願那女子就作你所預定給你僕人以撒的妻。這樣,我便知道你施恩給我人了。

15 話還沒有說完,不料,利百加肩頭上扛著水瓶出來。利百加是彼土利所生的;彼土利是亞伯拉罕兄弟拿鶴妻子密迦的兒子

16 那女子容貌極其俊美,還是處女,也未曾有親近他。他到井旁,打滿了瓶,又上來。

17 僕人跑上前去迎著他,:求你將瓶裡的給我一點喝。

18 女子:我!就急忙拿瓶來,托在上給他

19 女子給他了,就:我再為你的駱駝打水,叫駱駝足。

20 他就急忙把瓶裡的水倒在裡,又跑到旁打水,就為所有的駱駝打上水來。

21 定睛看他,一句話也不,要曉得耶和華賜他通達的道路沒有。

22 駱駝足了,那就拿一個環,重半舍客勒,兩個鐲,重舍客勒,給了那女子,

23 :請告訴我,你是誰的女兒?你父親家裡有我們住宿的地方沒有?

24 女子:我是密迦與拿鶴之子彼土利的女兒;

25 我們家裡足有糧,也有住宿的地方

26 就低頭向耶和華下拜,

27 耶和華─我亞伯拉罕的是應當稱頌的,因他不斷地以慈愛誠實待我人。至於我,耶和華上引領我,直走到我人的兄弟家裡。

28 女子跑回去,照著這些告訴他母親和他家裡的人。

29 利百加有一個哥哥,名叫拉班,看見金環,又看見金鐲在他妹子的手上,並聽見他妹子利百加的話,說那對我如此如此說。拉班就跑出來往井旁去,到那跟前,見他仍站在駱駝旁邊的井旁那裡,

30 a

31 便對他:你這蒙耶和華賜福的,請進,為甚麼站在外邊?我已經收拾了房屋,也為駱駝預備了地方

32 就進了拉班的家。拉班卸了駱駝,用料餵上,拿和跟隨的

33 把飯擺在他面前,叫他,他卻:我不,等我明白我的事情再。拉班:請

34 :我是亞伯拉罕的僕人

35 耶和華大大地賜福人,使他昌大,又賜羊群牛群、僕婢、駱駝,和

36 人的妻子撒拉年老的時候人生了一個兒子;我人也將一切所有的都了這個兒子

37 人叫我起誓說:你不要為我兒子娶迦南的女子為妻。

38 你要往我父家、我本族那裡去,為我的兒子娶一個妻子

39 我對我:恐怕女子不肯跟我來。

40 他就:我所事奉的耶和華必要差遣他的使者與你同去,叫你的道路通達,你就得以在我父家、我本族那裡,給我的兒子娶一個妻子

41 只要你到了我本族那裡,我使你起的誓就與你無干。他們若不把女子交你,我使你起的誓也與你無干。

42 我今日到了井旁,便耶和華─我亞伯拉罕的阿,願你叫我所行的道路通達。

43 我如今站在井旁,對那一個出來打的女子:請你把你瓶裡的給我一點喝;

44 他若:你只管,我也為你的駱駝打水;願那女子就作耶和華給我兒子所預定的妻。

45 裡的話還沒有完,利百加就出來,肩頭上扛著水瓶,到井旁打水。我便對他:請你給我水喝。

46 他就急忙從肩頭上拿瓶來,:請!我也給你的駱駝。我便了;他又給我的駱駝了。

47 我問他:你是誰的女兒?他:我是密迦與拿鶴之子彼土利的女兒。我就把環子戴在他鼻子上,把鐲子戴在他兩上。

48 隨後我低頭向耶和華下拜,稱頌耶和華─我亞伯拉罕的;因為他引導我走合式的道路,使我得著我兄弟的孫女,給我人的兒子為妻。

49 現在你們若願以慈愛誠實待我人,就告訴我;若不然,也告訴我,使我可以或向左,或向右。

50 拉班和彼土利回答:這事乃出於耶和華我們不能向你歹。

51 看哪,利百加在你面前,可以將他帶去,照著耶和華的,給你人的兒子為妻。

52 亞伯拉罕的僕人見他們這,就向耶和華俯伏在

53 當下僕人拿出器、器,和衣服利百加,又將寶物送哥哥和他母親

54 僕人和跟從他的人吃了了,住了一夜。早晨起來,僕人就:請打發我回我人那裡去罷。

55 利百加的哥哥和他母親:讓女子同我們,至少十,然他可以去。

56 僕人耶和華既賜給我通達的道路,你們不要耽誤我,請打發我走,回我人那裡去罷。

57 他們我們把女子來問問他,

58 了利百加來,問他:你和這同去麼?利百加:我去。

59 於是他們打發妹子利百加和他的母,同亞伯拉罕的僕人,並跟從僕人的,都走了。

60 他們就給利百加祝福:我們的妹子阿,願你作萬人的母!願你的後裔得著仇敵的城

61 利百加和他的使女們起來,駱駝,跟著那僕人僕人就帶著利百加走了。

62 那時,以撒,剛從庇耳•拉海•萊回

63 天將晚,以撒在田間默想,舉目一,見來了駱駝

64 利百加舉目以撒,就急忙下了駱駝

65 問那僕人:這田間走來迎接我們的是誰?僕人:是我的。利百加就拿帕子蒙上臉。

66 僕人就將所辦的一切事都告訴以撒

67 以撒便領利百加進了他母親撒拉的帳棚,娶了他為妻,並且他。以撒自從他母親不在了,這才得了安慰

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4835

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4835. 'Come [in] to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her' means that this - that representative of the Church - might be continued. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming (or going in) to a brother's wife and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her' as preserving and continuing that which constitutes the Church. The requirement laid down in the Mosaic Law, that if a man died without issue his brother was to marry his widow and raise up seed for his brother, and that the firstborn was to receive his dead brother's name, whereas all other sons were to be his own, was called the duty of a brother-in-law. The fact that this directive was nothing new in the Jewish Church but a practice already in existence is clear from the words used here; and the same goes for many other directives given to the Israelites through Moses, such as the law forbidding them to take wives from the daughters of the Canaanites and requiring them to marry within their own families, Genesis 24:3-4; 28:1-2. From these and many other examples it is evident that a Church had existed previously in which the same kind of practices were followed as those at a later time which were declared to and demanded of the sons of Jacob. Altars and sacrifices likewise had been in use since ancient times, as is evident from Genesis 8:20-21; 22:3, 7-8. From this it is plain that the Jewish Church was not a new Church but a revival of the Ancient Church which had perished.

[2] What the law regarding the duty of a brother-in-law had been is clear in Moses,

If brothers dwell together but one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead one shall not marry a stranger outside [the family]; her brother-in-law shall go in to her, and take her to himself as his wife, and so perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her. Then it will happen, that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not wiped out from Israel. But if the man is unwilling to take his sister-in-law, his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate to the elders, and she shall say, My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me. Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him; and if he stands and says, I do not desire to take her, his sister-in-law shall go up to him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from upon his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. Therefore his name will be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe taken off. Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

[3] Anyone who does not know what the duty of a brother-in-law represents inevitably believes that the practice existed solely for the sake of preserving a name and consequently an inheritance. But the preservation of a name and an inheritance was not in itself a great enough reason why a brother should have been required to enter into a marriage with his sister-in-law. Rather, the practice was ordained so that the preservation and continuation of the Church might be represented through it. For a marriage represented the marriage of good and truth, which is the heavenly marriage. It therefore represented the Church too, for the Church is a Church by virtue of the marriage of good and truth, and when this marriage exists within it the Church makes one with heaven, which is the true heavenly marriage. And because a marriage represented these things, 'sons and daughters' were therefore representations and also meaningful signs of truths and goods. This being so, 'being without issue' meant a lack of good and truth, and so meant that no representative of the Church existed in that house any longer, and that as a consequence it was not in communion with the Church. In addition 'brother' represented a kindred good to which the truth represented by a widow might be joined. For to be the kind of truth that has life, produces fruit, and thereby continues that which constitutes the Church, truth cannot be joined to any other good but that which is its own and a kindred one. This was how those in heaven perceived the duty of a brother-in-law.

[4] The meaning of this practice - of a sister-in-law removing the shoe from upon the foot of the man who refused to do the duty of a brother-in-law, and of her spitting in his face - was this: Anyone devoid of good and truth, external and internal, would destroy those things that constitute the Church; for 'the shoe' means that which is external, 1748, and 'the face' that which is internal, 1999, 2434, 3527, 4066, 4796. From this it is evident that 'the duty of a brother-in-law' represented the preservation and continuation of the Church. But when through the Lord's Coming representatives of internal things came to an end, that particular law was done away with. It is like a person's soul or spirit in relation to his body. A person's soul or spirit is the internal part of him and his body the external; or what amounts to the same, the soul or spirit is the true likeness of the person, whereas the body is merely a representative image of him. When a person rises again his representative image or that which is external, namely his body, is cast aside, for he is now conscious in that which is internal, namely the true likeness of him. It is also like a person who is in darkness and from there looks at things belonging to light; or what amounts to the same, like one who is in the light of the world and from there looks at things belonging to the light of heaven. For the light of the world in comparison with the light of heaven is as darkness. Within that darkness, that is, within the light of the world, things belonging to the light of heaven as they exist essentially cannot be seen, but are seen so to speak within a representative image, even as the human mind is seen in a person's face. Therefore when the light of heaven is seen in its own essential brightness, the darkness of representative images is dispelled. This was effected through the Lord's Coming.

[4835a] 'And raise up seed for your brother' means so that the Church does not perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as truth derived from good, or faith grounded in charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 16110, 1940, 2848, 3310, 3373, 3671. The same is also meant by the firstborn who was to succeed to the name of the dead brother, 352, 367, 2435, 3325, 3494. 'Raising up seed for a brother' means continuing that which constitutes the Church, in line with what has been stated just above in 4834, and thus means so that the Church does not perish.

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