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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,

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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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Wife

  

The Hebrew of the Old Testament has six different common words which are generally translated as "wife," which largely overlap but have different nuances. Swedenborg uses two different Latin words, which largely overlap but have different nuances. Meanwhile, "wife" is often paired with "man" or "husband," which are also catch-all translations for a basket of Hebrew and Latin terms. So it's hard to pin down one universal meaning for "wife"; context and subject matter have a large effect.

In general, though, marriage in the Bible represents the union we all seek between our hearts and our minds. If we know what is right and pursue it faithfully, the Lord will ultimately help us love doing what is good, and the two aspects of ourselves will be unified. On a higher level, marriage represents the union we can have with the Lord, both individually and collectively as a church. As an intrinsic part of the marriage, the wife plays a key role in that meaning. But that meaning is different depending on what is being described.

If the marriage is describing a person who is spiritual in nature – "spiritual" being the second degree of heavenly life, in which people are led by intellect and knowledge with the desire for good following – the wife represents the desire for good, the affections that drive the person. If the marriage is describing someone who is celestial in nature – "celestial" being the highest degree of heavenly life, in which people are led from love, with the intellect and ideas following – the wife represents the true ideas held by the person or church. If the marriage is describing the union between the Lord and the church, the wife represents the church.

In a way, these are symbolic meanings that actually have little to do with gender. When "wife" describes a church, obviously that church can include both male and female people. When "wife" describes an aspect of a person, that person can obviously be either male or female.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 915, 1468, 1904 [1-2], 3246 [3-4], 3398, 4823 [2])

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Arcana Coelestia # 1904

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1904. That 'Sarai, Abram's wife, took' means the affection for truth, which in the genuine sense is 'Sarai the wife', is clear from the meaning of 'Sarai' as truth allied to good, and from the meaning of 'wife' as affection, dealt with already in 915, 1468. There are two affections, distinct and separate - the affection for good and the affection for truth. While a person is being regenerated the affection for truth takes the lead, for it is an affection for truth for the sake of good that moves him; but once he has been regenerated the affection for good takes the lead, and it is now an affection for truth originating in good that moves him. The affection for good belongs to the will, the affection for truth to the understanding. The most ancient people established a marriage so to speak between these two affections. They used to refer to good (or the love of good) and truth (or the love of truth) as Man, calling the former 'the husband' and the latter 'the wife'. The comparison of good and truth to a marriage has its origins in the heavenly marriage.

[2] Regarded in themselves good and truth do not possess any life, but they derive their life from love or affection. They are merely the instruments that serve life. Consequently as is the love producing the affection for good and truth, so is the life; for the whole of life constitutes the whole of love or affection. This is why 'Sarai his wife' in the genuine sense means the affection for truth. And because the Intellectual desired the Rational as its offspring, and because what she says is an expression of that desire or affection, this verse contains the explicit wording, 'Sarai, Abram's wife, gave to Abram her husband' which would be an unnecessary repetition - for in themselves these words would be quite superfluous - if such matters were not embodied within the internal sense.

[3] Intellectual truth is distinct and separate from rational truth, and rational truth from factual truth, just as what is internal, what is intermediate, and what is external are. Intellectual truth is internal, rational truth is intermediate, while factual truth is external. These are quite distinct and separate because one is interior to another. With everyone intellectual truth, which is internal, or that present within the inmost part of him, is not his own but is the Lord's with him. From this the Lord flows into the rational, where truth first appears as if it were the person's own, and through the rational into his faculty of knowing. From these considerations it is clear that nobody can possibly think as of himself from intellectual truth, but from rational truth and factual truth because these do appear as if they were his.

[4] Only the Lord, when He lived in the world, thought from intellectual truth, for that truth was His own Divine truth joined to good, or the Divine spiritual joined to the Divine celestial. In this respect the Lord was different from all others. Man in no way possesses the ability to think from the Divine existing within himself as his essential self, nor can that ability possibly exist within man, only within Him who was conceived from Jehovah. Because He thought from intellectual truth, that is, from the love or affection for intellectual truth, from that truth also He desired the Rational. This is why it is stated here that 'Sarai, Abram's wife', by whom is meant the affection for intellectual truth, 'took Hagar the Egyptian and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife (mulier)'.

[5] No other arcana concealed here can be brought out and explained intelligibly because the human being dwells in very great obscurity regarding his own internals. Indeed he has no conception of these, for he identifies the rational and the intellectual degrees of the mind with the factual degree, not knowing that these degrees are distinct and separate, so distinct in fact that the intellectual is able to exist without the rational, as also can the rational, while subordinate to the intellectual, exist without the factual. This must inevitably seem absurd to those wholly immersed in factual knowledge, but it is nevertheless the truth. It is not possible however for anyone to have truth present in the factual degree of his mind, that is to say, to have an affection for it and a belief in it, if truth is not present in the rational, into which and through which the Lord flows in from the intellectual degree. These arcana do not lie open to man's view except in the next life.

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